Letter to the Church, not after 18 December 1833
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Source Note
“” (including JS), Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to “Brethren in Christ, and companions in tribulation,” [not after 18 Dec. 1833]. Featured version published in “The Elders in Kirtland, to their Brethren Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 120. For more complete source information on The Evening and the Morning Star, see the source note for Letter, 30 Oct. 1833.
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Historical Introduction
This short letter was published in the first issue of the revived newspaper The Evening and the Morning Star, which was printed in , Ohio, in December 1833. The letter was sent “from the in Kirtland,” including JS. Publishing an open letter in the church’s newspaper appears to have been a common way for church leaders in both Kirtland and to convey instructions to the entire . The letter featured here offered advice on preaching, advising missionaries to be tactful and patient and reiterating their duty to “bring about the glorious Millenium” by warning the world to “repent and come to Christ.” This letter also briefly discussed a variety of other topics, including the need to qualified men to the and persecution; the letter’s mention of the “sore trial” of the church may have referred to the recent violence against church members in Missouri.This letter was written sometime before 18 December 1833, when JS dedicated the printing press in and, with and , “proceded to take the first proof sheet” of the first issue of the revived Star. Two months after publishing this letter, Kirtland leaders published another letter, titled “The Elders of the Church in Kirtland, to Their Brethren Abroad,” which ran serially through two additional issues of the Star before the leadership laid the newspaper aside and left in the spring of 1834 with the to aid church members in .
Footnotes
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1
See, for example, the following letters from Missouri church leaders: “The Elders in the Land of Zion to the Church of Christ Scattered Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1832, [5]; and [William W. Phelps], “To the Elders of the Church of Christ, Who Preach Good Tidings to the World,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1832, [6].
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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2
For more information on the recent happenings in Missouri, see Historical Introductions to Letter, 30 Oct. 1833; and to Letter from William W. Phelps, 6–7 Nov. 1833.
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3
JS, Journal, 18 Dec. 1833.
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4
See Letter to the Church, ca. Feb. 1834; Letter to the Church, ca. Mar. 1834; and “The Elders of the Church in Kirtland, to Their Brethren Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Apr. 1834, 152.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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