The Papers
DocumentsInterim Content

Letter to “Dearly Beloved Brethren,” 23 November 1833

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

More Info

, November 23, 1833.

An epistle from a counsel

A gathering of church leaders assembled “for consultation, deliberation and advice”; also a body responsible for governance or administration. As early as 9 February 1831, a revelation instructed that “the Elders & Bishop shall Council together & they shall...

View Glossary

of high priests

An ecclesiastical office. The Book of Mormon used the term high priest to denote one appointed to lead the church. However, the Book of Mormon also discussed an order of high priests who were called to teach the commandments of God and serve as leaders in...

View Glossary

of the church of christ

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...

View Glossary

, organized on the 6th of April, A.D. 1830, to their brethren of the same church, residing at Geneseo

Agricultural area twenty-five miles west of Canandaigua. Incorporated as village, 1832. Population in 1840 about 900. While recruiting for Camp of Israel, JS and Sidney Rigdon preached to large congregation at general conference in village, 16 Mar. 1834. ...

More Info

, Living ston County, New York:

Dearly beloved brethren,

It is with deep feelings of <deep> interest for your welfare, that we address ourselves to you by this Epistle, which we send by the hands of our worthy brethren, Orson Pratt

19 Sept. 1811–3 Oct. 1881. Farmer, writer, teacher, merchant, surveyor, editor, publisher. Born at Hartford, Washington Co., New York. Son of Jared Pratt and Charity Dickinson. Moved to New Lebanon, Columbia Co., New York, 1814; to Canaan, Columbia Co., fall...

View Full Bio

, and Lyman Johnson

24 Oct. 1811–20 Dec. 1859. Merchant, lawyer, hotelier. Born at Pomfret, Windsor Co., Vermont. Son of John Johnson and Alice (Elsa) Jacobs. Moved to Hiram, Portage Co., Ohio, Mar. 1818. Baptized into LDS church by Sidney Rigdon, Feb. 1831. Ordained an elder...

View Full Bio

, both personly known to us, whom we rec ommend to your fellowship, as men of good morals and of firm and unshaken integrity in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, to which min istry they have been called and regularly ordained

The conferral of power and authority; to appoint, decree, or set apart. Church members, primarily adults, were ordained to ecclesiastical offices and other responsibilities by the laying on of hands by those with the proper authority. Ordinations to priesthood...

View Glossary

by the hands of this church, and set apart to this office after having been received into the same by baptism

An ordinance in which an individual is immersed in water for the remission of sins. The Book of Mormon explained that those with necessary authority were to baptize individuals who had repented of their sins. Baptized individuals also received the gift of...

View Glossary

according to the Articles and Cove nants

A foundational document presented at the first conference of the church for the approval of church members. The articles and covenants included a brief historical prologue, a declaration of beliefs, and a description of the offices, ordinances, and procedures...

View Glossary

thereof. It is just for us, for your sakes, to say, that our brother Orson Pratt

View Full Bio

, was one of those who first embraced this gospel, and was soon set apart to the work of the ministry, and during an excessive labor of three <years> has conducted himself with that pro priety, and has made such advances in the knowl edge of the doctrine of the kingdom of Christ, that we recommend him in full confidence as a man cabable of setting in order the ordinances

A religious rite. JS taught that ordinances were covenants between man and God, in which believers could affirm faith, gain spiritual knowledge, and seek blessings. Some ordinances were considered requisite for salvation. The manner in which ordinances were...

View Glossary

and requi sitions of the same. Our brother Lyman Johnson

View Full Bio

has la bored in the ministry more than two years, during which he has showed himself worthy of the high responsibility, and is justly entitled to the confidence of all the saints with whom he has labored, and is fully qual ified to assist our brother Orson Pratt

View Full Bio

in setting in order all matters of difficulty that may be among you.

Dear brethren, we have learned with painful feelings, that divisions and strifes in a degree have made their appearance among you, which evidently is the work of the adversary of our souls, to disaffect your minds toward the truth, that <and grieve> the Holy Spirit <that it> withdraws, and leaves you in darkness, to be led captive down to de struction; and with great anxiety of heart we have called upon our heavenly Father in the name of Jesus for you.* We need not prove to you by argument, brethren, that where there <are> contentions, and unbelief in the sacred things communicated [p. [1]]

In spring 1833, a controversy had developed in the Geneseo

More Info

, New York, branch surrounding JS’s vision of the three levels of postmortal glory, or what was known at the time as “the Vision” (Revelation, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76]). Ezra Landen, the presiding elder, did not accept the revelation and persuaded other members to support his view.

Although Landen relented in his stance after receiving counsel from Orson Pratt

View Full Bio

and Lyman Johnson

View Full Bio

, he had resumed his opposition by September 1833. In November, a council of high priests at Kirtland

More Info

, Ohio, sent Pratt and Johnson to visit Geneseo

More Info

again and settle the matter. The letter Pratt and Johnson carried from the council stipulated that doctrinal disharmony and rejection of revelation were grounds for disfellowshipment.

JS sent this letter from Kirtland

More Info

on behalf of the council, over which he presided. Oliver Cowdery

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

View Full Bio

acted as council clerk and transcribed the letter, which was addressed to church members at Geneseo

More Info

. Cowdery also recorded a partial copy of the epistle in JS Letterbook 1.

Facts

Editorial Title: Letter to “Dearly Beloved Brethren,” 23 November 1833
ID #: 190