At times Joseph suffered as much opposition in
the Church as outside.
In
early 1844 a group of apostates in Nauvoo, Illinois, declared the Prophet
Joseph Smith to be a fallen prophet and tried to start a rival church. Some even
held secret meetings, during which they plotted to kill him (Glen L. Leonard, Nauvoo:
A Place of Peace, a People of Promise [2002], 357-62).
One of
these people was W.W. Phelps, an author and a poet, who wrote 26 hymns in the
original hymnal. He was Joseph’s close associate who left the church for a time
with Oliver Cowdery. He became fiercely anti and wrote an incriminating affidavit
which landed Joseph and Sidney Rigdon in jail and wreaked deadly havoc on the
Church community.
W.W.
Phelps eventually became wrecked with guilt and had a miraculous change of
heart. He desired to repent and wrote a letter to Joseph, asking for
forgiveness of all the saints, in the name of Jesus Christ. Note the
forgiveness was requested in Jesus’ name, who is the very embodiment of said attribute.
Even though he yearned for forgiveness, he didn’t expect the reply he received
to his letter.
Joseph
responded: “Dear Brother Phelps, it is true that we have suffered much because
of your behaviour. The cup of gall was filled to the overflowing when you
turned against us, however, we are yet alive and I shall be happy once again to
give you the right hand of fellowship. Come on dear Brother since the war is past,
for friends at first are friends again at last. Yours as ever, Joseph Smith Jr.”
Joseph re-instated
W.W. Phelps into the Church fellowship by the unanimous vote of all the saints
in Nauvoo whom he influenced in the matter of forgiveness. Later W.W. Phelps
said he struggled to understand Joseph’s capacity for forgiveness and love.
The hymn “Praise to the Man” was written by WW Phelps to express love and gratitude for Joseph upon his death, and it was sung at his funeral. What a great tribute to the man who exemplified the Saviour through his forgiving heart.
Some
of us have brought with us spiritual attributes we developed in pre-existence.
They can never, however, match the Saviour’s level of perfection. Forgiveness
is one of those attributes.
For
instance, I often hear that we should forgive our enemies and those who hurt us
like the Saviour did whilst on the cross. I ask, how many of us are capable of
such forgiveness in the midst of such excruciating agony? This kind of
forgiveness is on a higher level that we cannot reach on our own.
Forgiveness
is central to Christ’s character but not to our own. Not especially in this
weakened condition of mortality. Comparing us to Christ is like comparing
apples to oranges.
I
had a conversation with a dear sister once who told me it took her 12 years of
intense therapy to forgive someone. I reflected on my own experience of much
needed ability to forgive whilst in excruciating pain due to divorce some years
ago, which took only months to gain through fervent and persistent appealing to
Christ’s power of the Atonement. I was granted what I asked for and to this day
I cannot hold a grudge of any proportion.
By
virtue of our discipleship and by being faithful in keeping our covenants, we
have ‘increased access to the power of Jesus Christ’ and need not suffer
unduly. We can still become free when forgiveness is beyond us. (see President
Russell M Nelson, “Overcome the World and Find Rest”, Liahona 2022, p 96)
A true
leader who leads masses of imperfect and flawed people would have to have this
attribute under his belt for those who claim they represent Him, need to in
some way, be like Him. Nobody needed the gift of forgiveness more than Joseph. I
am certain that the Saviour knew this and endowed him with this gift, either in
this life or before. He must have known from His own experience that Joseph
would not survive otherwise.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Joseph the Man by Joseph Brickey)
