Dear Brethren

With respect I address a few lines to you in this time of confusion among us, although the enemy has accomplished his design of in demolishing the Printing establishment they cannot demolist [demolish] the design of our God, for his decrees will stand & his purposes must be accomplished notwithstanding the great rage of Satan, which we can behold in his followers, for it is visible to the natural eye, but enough on this subject, for you will be able to tell more than I can write.

Marvellous to tell in the midst of all the rage of all the rage of persecution God is pouring out his Spirit upon his people so that most all on last thursday at the school received the gift of tongues & spake & prophesied; The next day David [Whitmer] called his branch together and most of them received the gift of tongues many old things are coming to light that had it not been for this gift would have remained in the dark & brought the wrath of God, upon the inhabitants of Zion. There are but very few that have denied the faith in consequence of this transaction, but my daily prayer is that the Lord will cleanse Zion of all the remaining wickedness that is on this Holy Land, for is their cup not already full. I greatly fear for some of they who call themselves disciples; but they are in the hands of a merciful God & he will do them no injustice. The Mail brings intelligence from Lexington which says that there have been two deaths of the Asiatic Cholera & are ten or fifteen cases

We suppose that there was one or two cases last week in this Neighborhood but none in town. Our daily cry to God is deliver thy people from the hand of our enemies send thy destroying angels, O God in the behalf of thy people that Zion may be built up according to the plan of our Lord through his servants to us, received this mail.

According to your request we give you the copy of the article of our enemies and also the bond or Covenant which we have signed.

“We the undersigned citizens of Jackson County believing that an important crisis is at hand as regards our civil society, in consequence of a pretended religious sect of people that have settled, and are still settling in our County, styling themselves Mormons and intending as we do to rid our society “peacably if we can, forcibly if we must,” and believing as we do that the arm of the civil law does not afford us a guarantee or at least a sufficient one against the evils which are now inflicted upon us, and seem to be increasing by the said religious sect, deem it expedient & of the highest importance to form ourselves into a company for the better and easier accomplishment of our purpose, a purpose which we deem it almost superfluous to say is justified as well by the laws of nature as by the law of self preservation. It is more than two years since the first of these fanatics or knaves; for one or the other they u[n]doubtedly are, made their first appearance amongst us and pretending as they did and now do— to hold personal communion and converse, face to face with the most high God, to receive communications and revelations direct from heaven, to heal the sick by the laying on of hands, & in short to perform all the wonderworking miracles wrought by the inspired apostles & prophets of old. We believed them to be deluded fanatics or weak and designing knaves and that they & their pretensions would soon pass away, but in this we were decieved.

The acts of a few designing leaders amongst them have thus far succeeded in holding them together as a society and since the arrival of the first of them they have been daily increasing in numbers & if they had been respectable citizens in society & thus deluded, they would have been entitled to our pity rather than to our contempt & hatred, but from their appearance, from their manners and their conduct since their coming among us, we have every reason to believe fear that with very few exceptions, they were of the very dregs of <​that​> society from which they came, lazy, Idle & vicious, This we concieve is not idle assertion, but a fact susceptible of proof, for with these few exceptions above named, they brought into our country county, little or no property with them, & left less behind them, and we infer that those only yoked themselves to the Mormon Car who had nothing earthly or heavenly to loose by the change, and we fear that if some of the leaders amongst them had paid the forfeit due to crime, instead of being chosen embassadors of the most high, they would have been inmates of solitary cells. But their conduct here stamps their characters in their true colours. More than a year since, it was ascertained that they had been tampering with our slaves and endeavoring to sow dissensions & raise seditions among them. Of this the Mormon Leaders were informed & they said they would deal with any of their members who should again in like case offend, but how specious are appearances? In a late Star published at Independence, by the leaders of the sect, there is an article inviting free Negroes & Mulattoes from other States to become Mormons and remove and settle among us. This exhibits them in still more odious colors. It manifests a desire on the part of their society to inflict on our society an injury that they know not would be to us entirely unsupportable and one of the surest means of driving us from the County for it would require none of the supernatural gifts that they pretend to, to see that the introduction of such a cast amongst us would corrupt our blacks & instigate them to bloodshed.—— They openly blaspheme the Most High God, and cast contempt on his holy religion by pretending to receive revelations direct from Heaven, by pretending to speak unknown tongues; by direct inspiration, and by divers pretences derogatory of God and religion, and to the utter subversion of human reason: They declare openly that <​their​> God has given them this County of land, and that sooner or later they must and will have the possession of our lands for an inheritance, and in fine they have conducted themselves on many other occasions in such a manner, that we believe it a duty we owe ourselves to our wives and Children, to the cause of public morals, to remove them from among us, as we are not prepared to give up pleasant places, and goodly possessions to them, or to receive into the bosoms of our families, as fit companions for our wives and daughters the degraded free negroes and Mulatoes that are now invited to settle among us.

Under such a state of things even our beautiful Country would cease to be a desirable residence, and our situation intolerable! We therefore agree that after timely warning, and after receiving an adequate compensation for what little property they cannot take with them, they refuse to leave us in peace as they found us; we agree to use such means as may be sufficient to remove them, and to that end we each pledge our to each other our bodily powers, our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.

We will meet at the Courthouse of the Town of Independence on Saturday next 20th Inst to consult of ulterior movements.”

There are about 300 signers to this instrument.

We leave the result <​event​> with God

Memorandum of the agreement between the undersigned of the Mormon Society in Jackson County, Missouri, and Committee appointed by a public meeting of the Citizens of Said County; made the 23rd day of July 1833

It is understood that the undersigned <​members​> of the said society do give their solemn pledge, each for himself as follows, to wit that Oliver Cowdery, W[illiam] W Phelps, William E McLellin, Edward Partridge, Lyman White [Wight], Simeon Carter Peter [Whitmer Jr.] & John Whitmer & Harvey Whitlock shall remove with their families out of this County on or before the 1st day of January next, and that they as well as the two herein after named use all their influence to induce all their brethren now here to move as soon as possible, one half say by the first day of January next and all by the first day of April next & to advise, and to try all means in their power to stop any more of their sect from moving to this county, and to those now on the road & who have no notice of this agreement they will use their influence to prevent their settling <​permanently​> in this County, but that they shall only make arrangement for temporary shelter, till a new location is fixed on by the Society. John Corril[l] & Aljeron [Algernon Sidney] Gilbert are allowed to remain as general agents to wind up the business of the society so long as necessity shall require, and said Gilbert may sell out his goods now on hand, but is to make no new importations. The Star is not again to be published nor a press set up by any of the Society in this County.

If the Said Edward Partridge & W W Phelps move their families by the first of January as aforesaid that they themselves will be allowed to go and come in order to transact and wind up their business.

The Committee pledge themselves to use all their influence to prevent any violence being used so long as a compliance with the foregoing terms is observed by the parties concerned.

The resolutions adopted on Saturday the 20th I have not yet recieved but I think I can by applying to Mr Allen.

Nothing in particular has transpired has transpired since you left here save the gifts are breaking forth in a marvellous manner. I want you to remember me to Joseph in a special manner, and enquire of him respecting my clerkship you very well know what I mean & also my great desire of doing all things according to the mind of the Lord, We need the prayers of all the disciples of our Redeemer for it is a time of great anxiety to behold the cleansing of this Church & also the land from wickedness & abominations. We are waiting with inexpressible anxiety to hear the word of the Lord concerning Zion, O that God may speed your journey & bring us intelligence which will be as balm to the wounded bosom, or as a smile of the Redeemer to a soul in distress, my heart is full and I say O my God will thou not deliver, yea wilt thou not come down that the mountains may flow down at thy presence &c— I am your unworthy brother in the Lord.

John Whitmer

Oliver Cowdery & Joseph Smith Junr &c

In our present situation I have nothing to write, I wait for the word of the Lord: For his will and not ours will be done, we have many beautiful Hymns sung in tongues: I transcribe a couple sung by Wilber.

High in the Heavins the throne of God is set

His Eye extends abroad oer all his works

He knows the inmost thoughts of all his hand hath made

Yea Earth, and the foundations which his power hath laid

All things are swallowed up in him

He comprehends all things, encircles all things round about

By his almighty power

Sustains all things from week to week

From day to day, from hour to hour

Praise ye the Lord ye saints in Zion

Praise his glorious name

Our God shall triumph over all his foes

Our enemies shall all be put to shame38

And God be praised for all his mighty power

Exalt the wastes of Zion sing for joy ye saints

Let praise your earthly powers employ

Arise, awake, put thy strength and sing39

The everlasting praises of your King

Till earth & heaven in Halelujahs ring.

The towers of Zion soon shall rise

Hymn book page 38

If the Lord will yet speak to his children, it may be well to inquire every matter concerning the destruction of the printing office, and what is to be done in future, and also concerning the store, and what is to be done in future: I know from the experience I have had that it is a good thing to have our faith thoroughly tried.

Zion must and will be pure. Health prevails among the disciples.

N.B. Early on Monday morning41 we received letters from Kirtland containing all the patterns &c postages $1,50 by wt, which in single letters would have been but $1,00— We also recd a [letter] dated Walnut farm” from Oliver. Our anxiety will be so great that I say Oliver: write the first mail after you arrive at Kirtland, whether the tidings be favorable or not. Every one that is a saint or nearly so, in the Timber branch speaks in tongues, br David [Whitmer] says he can speak in all the tongues on earth, we shall probably begin to worship here in tongues tomorrow if the Lord wills, that is excepting we 6— It is a solemn day with us and I remain.

W W Phelps

Joseph Smith Jr

Kirtland Mills

Geauga Co, Ohio