Brethren, the conference meets again this evening to hear this letter read, and if it meet their minds, we have all agreed to kneel down before the Lord, and cry unto Him with all our hearts, that this epistle, and Brother Joseph's, and the revelations also, may have their desired effect, and accomplish the thing whereunto they are sent, and that they may stimulate you to cleanse Zion, that she mourn not. Therefore when you get this, know ye that a conference of twelve High Priests have cried unto the Lord for you, and are still crying, saying, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach. We now feel that our garments are clean from you, and all men, when we have washed our feet and hands, according to the commandment.
We have written plainly at this time, but we believe not harshly. Plainness is what the Lord requires, and we should not feel ourselves clear, unless we had done so; and if the things we have told you be not attended to, you will not long have occasion to say, or to think rather, that we may be wrong in what we have stated. Your unworthy brethren are determined to pray unto the Lord for Zion, as long as we can shed the sympathetic tear, or feel any spirit to supplicate the throne of grace in her behalf.
The School of the Prophets will commence, if the Lord will, in two or three days. It is a general time of health with us. The cause of God seems to be rapidly advancing in the eastern country; the gifts are beginning to break forth so as to astonish the world, and even believers marvel at the power and goodness of God. Thanks be rendered to His holy name for what He is doing. We are your unworthy brethren in the Lord, and may the Lord help us all to do His will, that we may at last be saved in His kingdom.
Orson Hyde,
Hyrum Smith.
N. B.—We stated that Brother Gilbert, when he was in Kirtland, knew that William was in Cleveland last fall. We wrote this upon the strength of hearsay; but William being left at St. Louis, strengthened our suppositions that such was the fact. We stated further respecting this matter, or this item, than the testimony will warrant us. With this exception the conference sanctions this letter.
O. H.
H. S.
Footnotes
1. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. lxxxvii.
2. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. lxxxviii. This is the revelation referred to as "The Olive Leaf," plucked from the Tree of Paradise, in the Prophet's letter of January 11, 1833. See page 316.
3. This name is also spelled Sexton in the Ms. History. Mr. Seaton lived at Rochester, New York, and published a paper there, but the name of the paper cannot be ascertained.
4. The Prophet states subsequently that he wrote this communication by commandment of the Lord. The general condition of the world as noted by the Prophet at the commencement of this chapter, was doubtless the occasion of the Lord sending forth such a note of warning to the inhabitants of the earth as is here presented. It should be said, however, in addition to what is here set down, i.e. at the beginning of the chapter—that the "plague," or Asiatic cholera, which first broke out in India, spread also throughout the United States in that same year. One historian, speaking of its ravages in the United States, says: "It was on the 21st of June, 1832, that the eastern plague, known as the Asiatic cholera, made its first appearance in the United States, in the city of New York. Its rapid spread produced universal panic, though it was less fatal in the South Atlantic States than in the north and in the valley of the Mississippi. Thousands of persons of all ages and conditions died of it within a few months. The most robust constitutions in many instances became victims of its malignancy within thirty-six hours from its first attack."—History U. S., Stephens, p. 450.
5. This is the revelation beginning on p. 302, and section lxxxviii of the Doctrine and Covenants.
6. See p. 301, verses 119-136.
7. "Kirtland Mills" and "Kirtland" are identical. The name "Kirtland Mills" arose from the existence of some mills on the banks of the branch of the Chagrin river on which Kirtland is situated.
8. See p. 292, verse 76.
9. See p. 291, verses 55-59.
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Enjoyment of Spiritual Blessings in the Church—The Word of Wisdom.
The Enjoyment of Spiritual Gifts.
This winter [1832-33] was spent in translating the Scriptures; in the School of the Prophets; and sitting in conferences. I had many glorious seasons of refreshing. The gifts which follow them that believe and obey the Gospel, as tokens that the Lord is ever the same in His dealings with the humble lovers and followers of truth, began to be poured out among us, as in ancient days;—for as we, viz.: Joseph Smith, Jun., Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, Newel K. Whitney, Hyrum Smith, Zebedee Coltrin,1 Joseph Smith, Sen., Samuel H. Smith, John Murdock, Lyman E. Johnson,2 Orson Hyde, Ezra Thayer, High Priests; and Levi Hancock,3 and William Smith,4 Elders, were assembled in conference, on the 22nd day of January, I spoke to the conference in another tongue, and was followed in the same gift by Brother Zebedee Coltrin, and he by Brother William Smith, after which the Lord poured out His Spirit in a miraculous manner, until all the Elders spake in tongues, and several members, both male and female, exercised the same gift. Great and glorious were the divine manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Praises were sung to God and the Lamb; speaking and praying, all in tongues, occupied the conference until a late hour at night, so rejoiced were we at the return of these long absent blessings.
Ordinance of the Washing of Feet.
On the 23rd of January, we again assembled in conference; when, after much speaking, singing, praying, and praising God, all in tongues, we proceeded to the washing of feet (according to the practice recorded in the 13th chapter of John's Gospel), as commanded of the Lord. Each Elder washed his own feet first, after which I girded myself with a towel and washed the feet of all of them, wiping them with the towel with which I was girded. Among the number, my father presented himself, but before I washed his feet, I asked of him a father's blessing, which he granted by laying his hands upon my head, in the name of Jesus Christ, and declaring that I should continue in the Priest's office until Christ comes. At the close of the scene, Brother Frederick G. Williams, being moved upon by the Holy Ghost, washed my feet in token of his fixed determination to be with me in suffering, or in journeying, in life or in death, and to be continually on my right hand; in which I accepted him in the name of the Lord.
The Elders Pronounced Clean.
I then said to the Elders, As I have done so do ye; wash ye, therefore, one another's feet; and by the power of the Holy Ghost I pronounced them all clean from the blood of this generation; but if any of them should sin wilfully after they were thus cleansed, and sealed up unto eternal life, they should be given over unto the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption. Having continued all day in fasting, and prayer, and ordinances, we closed by partaking of the Lord's supper. I blessed the bread and wine in the name of the Lord, when we all ate and drank, and were filled; then we sang a hymn, and the meeting adjourned.
Revision of the New Testament Completed.
I completed the translation and review of the New Testament, on the 2nd of February, 1833 and sealed it up, no more to be opened till it arrived in Zion.5
An Epistle
Of the First Presidency, to the Church of Christ in Thompson, Geauga County, Ohio.
Kirtland, February 6th, 1833.
Dear Brethren,
We salute you, by this our epistle, in the bonds of