Joseph Smith Letter on Virtue Obtained

An 1840 letter from Joseph Smith to a family in Philadelphia has come into the hands of a Utah collector.

The letter is a statement on virtue, akin to the teachings in verses 45–46, section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants [D&C 121:45–46], said Brent Ashworth, the collector who purchased the letter.

The handwriting on the letter and the signature on the letter have been authenticated by Dean C. Jessee, an associate professor and research historian in the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History at Brigham Young University.

The letter was written in ink and is signed by Joseph Smith. Two additional lines are written on the lower left of the sheet, in pencil: “Phila. Penna., Feb. 1840.”

The book dealer from whom Brother Ashworth obtained the letter said the letter was written to a family named Wilkinson, non-members who later were baptized. The Prophet apparently stayed with the family the week after he had visited Washington, D.C., to appeal—unsuccessfully—to U.S. President Martin Van Buren for help in redressing wrongs committed against the Latter-day Saints. The Prophet Joseph Smith evidently spent several days in the Chester County, Pennsylvania, area. On January 20, he wrote a letter to his wife Emma from there. Elder Parley P. Pratt’s writings referred to the visit in Chester County, noting that Joseph Smith gave two public speeches there.

The brief letter begins with a short treatise on virtue and ends with a blessing on the family.

The text of the letter:

“Virtue is one of the most prominant principles that enables us to have confidence in approaching our Father who is in heaven in order to ask wisdom at his hand therefore if thou wilt cherish this principle in thine heart thou mayest ask with all Confidence before him and it shall be poured out upon thine head and thou shalt not lack any thing that thy soul desires in truth and again the Lord shall bless this house and none of them shall fail because they turned not away the servants of the Lord from their doors even so Amen.” (Original spelling and punctuation have been preserved.)

An 1840 letter by the Prophet Joseph Smith.