DEAR BRETHREN:—I am satisfied that the best way to effectually overcome error and faults is to frankly confess them, in obedience to the injunction of the apostle James. "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that ye may be healed."
Under a sense of duty to God and the cause of truth, I write at this time. For several years I have professed to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and a preacher of the gospel. During this time, I have traveled considerably in some parts of the United States and Canada. I now see that in conversing with the opposers of our faith, I have sometimes been overcome, and have given way to a hasty spirit, to reprove with sharpness and severity. This I confess was very wrong, and not becoming a disciple of the meek and lowly Jesus. It would have been more for the glory of God, and the honor of the precious cause of truth, if I had borne with patience and meekness the opposition I met with. I am sorry that I have at any time been thus overcome. I shall for the future try with all my heart to become more like the divine Lord.