Joseph Smith had been confined for months in Liberty Jail. It was a harrowing ordeal, made all the more so because of so little news about the saints. On March 24th, Joseph received letters from several friends, including his brother Don Carlos Smith, Bishop Partridge and his wife Emma.
The letters were welcomed, but sent Joseph’s mind racing in all directions as he considered the plight of his family, friends and the church. He wrote:
“[T]hose who have not been enclosed in the walls of a prison without cause or provocation, can have but little idea how sweet the voice of a friend is; one token of friendship from any source whatever awakens and calls into action every sympathetic feeling; it brings up in an instant everything that is passed; it seizes and present with the avidity of lightening; it grasps after the future with the fierceness of a tiger; it moves the mind backward and forward, from one thing to another…” (TPJS, p. 134.)
This frenzy of thought was provoked by the letters. It set his mind whirling. He was filled with emotion and with intensity of thought about it all: past, present and future. In this state of mind he was awakened to appreciate keenly these terrible events and his own captivity.
But it was in the quietness which followed where the spirit whispered to him and we received through him revelations now contained in the D&C. He continues:
“[U]ntil finally all enmity, malice and hatred, and past differences, misunderstandings and mismanagements are slain victorious at the feet of hope; and when the heart is sufficiently contrite, then the voice of inspiration steals along and whispers–“ (TPJS, p. 134.)
“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high.” (D&C 121: 7-8.)
The voice comes so quietly Joseph uses “steals along” to tell of its arrival.
It speaks so gently Joseph uses “whispers” to describe the voice.