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November 16, 1835

Harvey Whitlock, a physician from Massachusetts, joined the restored Church of Jesus Christ in 1831, just one year after its founding.[1] That same year he was ordained a high priest and called to serve a mission to Jackson County, Missouri, with David Whitmer (Doctrine and Covenants 52:25).[2] However, by the end of 1835, Whitlock had become estranged (and evidently excommunicated) from the Church despite his earlier service. In a letter to Joseph Smith composed on September 28, 1835, Whitlock spoke frankly of his “difficulties with the church”[3] and penned his need to unburden himself by confession. “To you I wish to unbosom my feelings,” he wrote, “and unravel the secrets of my heart; as before the omniscient Judge of all the earth.”[4] Although he felt his faith in the Restoration was still firm, Whitlock nevertheless struggled with feelings that he had fallen into an “abyss” and was racked with feelings of “grief, lamentable sorrow, and anguish” for his “vice and folly.”[5]

Whitlock’s sincerity is unmistakable throughout his letter, as is his desire to know his standing before the Lord and to know what he must do to improve his spiritual situation. “Dear Brother Joseph,” he implored, “let me entreat you on the reception of this letter, as you regard the salvation of my soul, to enquire at the hand of the Lord in my behalf.”[6] This Joseph did, responding to Whitlock on November 16, 1835, with a heartfelt letter. “The very flood-gates of my heart were broken up,” Joseph wrote back. “I could not refrain from weeping. I thank God that it has entered into your heart to try to return to the Lord and to his people.”[7] This was characteristic of Joseph, who was quick to forgive and receive again those who had fallen away.[8]

But more than just a letter that is itself a window into Joseph’s tender, forgiving nature, the Prophet also produced for Whitlock a revelation from God, as requested. This revelation, featured here, demonstrates the Lord’s unwavering love for his sons and daughters and his swiftness in accepting sincere repentance. It promises Harvey that if he would forsake his sins and “pursue from hence forth a virtuous and upright life” he should become “a polished shaft in [the Lord’s] quiver.” In language reminiscent of Doctrine and Covenants 58:42, the Lord further assures Harvey that his sins would be “blotted out from under heaven” and “forgotten from among men.”

Two months after this revelation, on January 30, 1836, it was resolved “unanimously” by the presidency of the Church that Whitlock be “restored to the church in full fellowship on his being rebaptized” and have his priesthood restored.[9] Two years later, however, he again withdrew his membership. Despite this, Harvey continued throughout most of his life to associate with various movements of the Restoration, including Sidney Rigdon’s Church of Christ in Iowa, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah, and The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in California.

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Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you—let him who was my servant Harvey Whitlock return unto me, and unto the bosom of my Church, and forsake all the sins wherewith he has offended against me and pursue from hence forth a virtuous and upright life, and remain under the direction of those whom I have appointed to be pillars, and heads of my Church. And behold, saith the Lord your God—his sins shall be blotted out from under heaven, and shall be forgotten from among men, and shall not come up in mine ears, nor be recorded as a memorial against him; but I will lift him up as out of a deep mire, and he shall be exalted upon the high places, and shall be counted worthy to stand among princes, and shall yet be made a polished shaft in my quiver, of bringing down the strongholds of wickedness among those who set themselves up on high, that they may take council against me, and against anointed ones in the last days.

Therefore, let him prepare himself speedily and come unto you, even to Kirtland, and inasmuch as he shall hearken unto all your council from henceforth, he shall be restored unto his former state and shall be saved unto the uttermost, even as the Lord your God liveth. Amen.

Notes

[1] See “Whitlock, Harvey Gilman” (biographical entry), The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/harvey-gilman-whitlock.

[2] JSP, H2:40.

[3] JSP, J1:102.

[4] JSP, J1:101.

[5] JSP, J1:102.

[6] JSP, J1:103.

[7] JSP, D5:61.

[8] Perhaps the most famous example of this is when the Prophet received William W. Phelps back into the Church and his personal friendship after the latter’s apostasy in 1838. In a now-famous letter penned on July 22, 1840, Joseph wrote to William, “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.” Joseph then concluded the letter by paraphrasing a poem written by Methodist hymnist Charles Wesley with the lines, “Come on dear Brother since the war is past, For friends at first are friends again at last.” See JSP, D7:347–48.

[9] Minute Book 1, 137, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/minute-book

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