Letter from William Smith, 18 December 1835

Br. Joseph— Though I do not know but  I have forfeited all right and title to the  word brother, in concequence of what I have  done, for I concider myself; that I am unw orthy to be called one, after coming to myself  and concidering upon what I have done  I feel as though it was a duty, to make  a humble confession to you for what I  have done or what took place the other  evening,— but leave this part of the sub ject at present,— I was called to an acco unt by the 12

Members of a governing body in the church, with special administrative and proselytizing responsibilities. A June 1829 revelation commanded Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer to call twelve disciples, similar to the twelve apostles in the New Testament and ...

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, yesterday for my conduct; or  they desired to know my mind or det ermination and what I was going to do  I told them that on reflection upon the  many difficulties that I had had  with the church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

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and the much  disgrace I had brought upon my self in concequence of these things  and also that my health would  not permit me to go to school

A term occasionally used to refer to a Protestant seminary; specifically used by JS to refer to a school to prepare elders of the church for their ministry. A December 1832 revelation directed JS and the elders of the church in Kirtland, Ohio, to establish...

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to  <make> any preperations for the endument

The terms endow, endowed, and endowment—as well as endued and enduement—were used to describe the bestowal of spiritual blessings upon the Latter-day Saints. In common usage, these terms meant essentially the same thing: to clothe, to put on, to furnish, ...

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 and that my health was such that  I was not able to travel, I told them  that it would be better for them to  appoint one in the office that would  be better able to fill it, and by doing  this they would throw me into the  hands of the church, and leave me  where I was before I was chosen—