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.
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.
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.