Story of W.W. Phelps - As told by Elder Holland (with added remarks from S. Black) In the early years of the Church, the Prophet Joseph Smith had no more faithful aide the William wines Phelps. Brother Phelps, a former newspaper editor, had joined the Church in Kirtland and was of such assistance to those early leaders that they sent him as one of the first Latter-day Saints to the new Jerusalem -- Jackson County, Missouri. There he was called by the Lord to the stake presidency of that "center stake of Zion." But then troubles developed. First they were largely ecclesiastical aberrations but later there were financial improprieties. Things became so serious that the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that if Brother Phelps did not repent, he would be "removed out of his place." He did not repent and was excommunicated on March 10, 1838. The Prophet Joseph and others immediately tried to love W.W. Phelps back into the fold, but he would nave nothing of it. Then in the fall of that violent year, Brother Phelps, along with others, signed a deadly, damaging affidavit against the Prophet and other leaders of the Church. The result was quite simple that Joseph Smith was sentenced to be publicly executed on the town square in Far West, Missouri, Friday morning, November 2, 1838. Through the monumental courage of General Alexander Doniphan, the Prophet was miraculously spared the execution. W.W. Phelps, and others had precipitated, but he was not spared spending five months--November through April-- in several Missouri prisons, the most noted of which was the pit known ironically as Liberty Jail. I do not need to recount for you the suffering of the Saints through that period. The anguish of those not captive was in many ways more severe than those imprisoned. The persecutions intensified until the Saints sought yet again to find another refuge from the storm. With Joseph in chains, praying for their safety and giving some direction by letter, they made their way toward Commerce, Illinois, a malaria swamp on the Mississippi River where they would try once more to build the City of Zion. And much of this travail, this torment and heartache, was due to men of their own brotherhood like W.W. Phelps. But we’re speaking of happy endings. Two very difficult years later, with great anguish and remorse of conscience, William Phelps wrote to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo. Brother Joseph: I am as the prodigal son... I have seen the folly of my way, and I tremble at the gulf I have passed.... I ask my old brethren to forgive me, and thought they chasten me to death, yet I will die with them, for their God is my God. The least place with them is enough for me, yea, it is bigger and better that all Babylon... I know my situation, you know it, and God knows it, and I want to be saved if my friends will help me.... I have done wrong and I am sorry.... I ask forgiveness....I want your fellowship: if you cannot grant that, grant me your peace and friendship, for we are brethren, and our communion used to be sweet. In and instant the Prophet wrote back. In know of no private document of personal response in the life of Joseph Smith--or anyone else, for that matter--that so powerfully demonstrates the magnificence of his soul. Her is a lesson here for every one of use who claims to be a disciple of Christ. He wrote: Dear Brother Phelps: You may in some measure realize what my feelings were, when we read your letter ... We have suffered much in consequence of your behavior--the cup of gall, already full enough for mortals to drink, was indeed filled to overflowing when you turned against us. However, the cup had been drunk, the will of our 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 privilege to be delivered from the posers 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 out God, and your God, and to the church of Jesus Christ. Believing your confession to be real, and you repentance genuine, I shall be happy once again to give you the right hand of fellowship, and rejoice over the returning prodigal. Come on, dear brother, since the war is past, For friends at first are friends again at last. Yours as ever, Joseph Smith, Jun. Four years later it would be W.W. Phelps selected to preach Joseph Smith’s funeral sermon in that terribly tense and emotional circumstance. Furthermore it would be W.W. Phelps who would memorialize the martyred prophet with his hymn of adoration, "Praise to the Man" source: online notes from BYU class return to Parables for Today