Joseph Smith, Orson Hyde, and the Power of Forgiveness

During the Missouri-Mormon war of 1838, two apostles signed an affidavit claiming that Joseph Smith planned with his sword to create "one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean." Those apostles were Thomas B. Marsh, President of the Quorum of the Twelve and Orson Hyde (Apostle #2).Within the week came the extermination order and the Hahn's Mill Massacre. Then the near execution of Joseph Smith and the brutal winter spent in Liberty Jail.

Orson Hyde got a job as a schoolmaster and tried to forget his life with the saints. But forgetting was hard. He felt empty inside and was confused by his mood swings. Anger at Joseph Smith one moment. Sadness when he thought of the joys he'd felt in the Church the next. One thing bothered him above all - he didn't feel the Holy Ghost anymore, just emptiness.
He signed the affidavit because he believed the words of Thomas B. Marsh and Sidney Rigdon, but when he looked back he hadn't felt the Spirit while signing. Had he been wrong? He prayed as he never had before. He felt humbled, devastatingly unworthy. One answer to his prayer was a vision that he must make restitution to the Quorum of the 12. He visited Parley P Pratt in the Richmond Jail and talked with him through the crevices of the thick walls. Parley was kind to him.
He barely had the courage to visit Joseph in Liberty, but the jailers at that point did not allow visitors. Orson travelled to Far West and saw the burned skeletons of houses, the furniture broken into rubble and the strewn haystacks. Hundreds of families only had tents for shelter. He searched out Heber C. Kimball, his old missionary companion. Heber looked surprised and then with tears in his eyes embraced him.

Orson began to save up money. There was no way that he could pay restitution for the burned houses or the deaths that happened, but he could show that his repentance was sincere. When Joseph Smith was released from prison, Orson knew he needed to ask forgiveness. He was ready for chastisement, or at least a polite awkwardness. A small part of him hoped for a warm welcome. Orson went to Nauvoo to see the Prophet. He came to Joseph's house and hesitatingly opened the gate. He had barely stepped into the yard when a door opened. Brother Joseph came running to meet him, his arms out in welcome.
"O Brother Hyde, how glad I am to see you!" the prophet exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around him. Both men wept like children.
Brother Joseph said that he came out of the door so quickly when Orson had hardly opened the gate because the Lord had told him of Orson's approach, and he had been watching out the window.

Orson Hyde: Olive Branch of Israel, Myrtle Hyde

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ancestor story: George Q. Cannon Receives the Gift of Tongues

   George Q. Cannon is Beau's Third-great Grand Uncle The first missionaries to Hawaii assumed they were to preach to the white people. They spoke English. The missionaries spoke English. But the white people in Hawaii were a tiny minority and not interested at all. Soon the missionaries had talked to all of them. They wondered if that was it. Mission done? Do we just go home now? After all they didn't speak Hawaiian and they'd run out of English speakers. They'd done their duty, right? Who could blame them? George Q. Cannon wanted to stay and preach to the Hawaiians. "I did not conceal my feelings; I told them that I could not go home under existing circumstances, without feeling condemned. The Lord, in my opinion, I said, would hold me accountable for not doing my duty to that people. If I were to leave them; and the people might rise up in judgement against me at some future day for not having given them the privilege of hearing the truth." Four other el...
Read more

Manuel and Guillermo are Saved from Shining Path

  Late in the day on June 7, 1990, Manuel Navarro and his mission companion, Guillermo Chuquimango, were walking back to their house in Huaraz, Peru. Manuel had begun his mission in March 1989 at the Missionary Training Center in Lima, one of fourteen MTCs around the world. He enjoyed being a missionary—working hard, visiting different regions of the country, and bringing people to Jesus Christ. His current area could be dangerous at night, though. A revolutionary group called Sendero Luminoso, or the Shining Path, had been warring with the Peruvian government for more than a decade. Lately, their attacks had become more aggressive as rising inflation and economic strife beset the South American nation. Manuel and Guillermo, another native Peruvian, knew the dangers they faced as they left home each morning.  Groups like the Sendero Luminoso sometimes targeted Latter-day Saints because they associated the Church with United States foreign policy. There were now more than...
Read more

John W. Taylor Forsees a Family's Conversion

  John W. Taylor served a mission in the deep south. One night he and his companion were in a hostile town, afoot, hungry and with night coming on. "Every door is closed to us," said his companion bleakly. It was a long walk to the next town. "Wait," said John pointing to a house. "That door will open." They knocked and the door opened just far enough to reveal a suspicious face. "We have a message to you from Heaven," John said. "You got what?" "A message from Heaven," said John. "It shall be made known to you by dreams tonight that we are true servants of the Lord." That got them supper and a bed. "But wasn't it," wondered the companion, "going pretty far out on a limb? Either those people would dream, or they'd be dead set against Mormons for good." "If they didn't have that dream, they'd pass the word that these missionaries would say anything for a free meal." Yet...
Read more