Life’s Plot Twists
Plot TWISTS—they make the best movies. The endings you didn’t see coming, the bad guy hiding in plain sight, the dead guy that turns up again. In real life, twists are often painful. Like a close friend betraying your trust.
W.W. (William) Phelps, a super smart publisher from New Jersey, was baptized in 1831 and quickly became friends with Joseph Smith. They had different backgrounds—where Joseph was a farmer, William had been a printer’s apprentice.[1] But they were both seekers of truth[2] and passionate about the gospel.
William created the Church’s printing office and newspaper. He published the Book of Commandments and the first hymnbook, and he wrote many of our hymns. William and Joseph were close and worked well together.
A plot twist occurred in 1837, when William and another leader sold Church land and kept the profit for themselves. Eventually, he was excommunicated. The next year, he testified against Joseph in court when the State of Missouri tried Joseph for treason! This is what led to Joseph’s brutal time in Liberty Jail.[3]
The Saints saw William’s involvement as a devastating betrayal.
Then the plot twisted again! In 1840, a letter arrived for Joseph:
“I am as the prodigal Son,” William wrote in agony. “I will repent … and ask my old brethren to forgive me. … I will do right, God helping me, I want your fellowship. If you cannot grant that, grant me your peace and friendship, for we are brethren, and our communion used to be sweet.”[4]
Well, what would you say?
Joseph replied, “We have suffered much in consequence of your behavior. Had it been an enemy we could have borne it.”[5]
Ouch!
“However,” he continued, “believing your confession to be real and your repentance genuine, I shall … rejoice over the returning prodigal.” He closed the letter by paraphrasing a popular poem by Charles Wesley. “‘Come on dear Brother since the war is past, for friends at first are friends again at last.’”[6]
W.W. Phelps not only returned and remained faithful, but also gave the eulogy at Joseph’s funeral. Soon after he wrote “Praise to the Man.”[7]
The enduring friendship of W.W. Phelps and Joseph Smith can teach us a lot about repentance and forgiveness with the Savior’s Atonement. We can never stray so far in this life that we cannot return. The Savior makes good plot twists possible.
Notes:
[1] Bruce A. Van Orden, “William W. Phelps: His Contributions to Understanding the Restoration,” in Craig James Ostler, Michael Hubbard MacKay, and Barbara Morgan Gardner, eds., Foundations of the Restoration: The 45th Annual Brigham Young University Sidney B. Sperry Symposium (2017), 207–224.
[2] Bruce A. Van Orden, “William W. Phelps,” in Craig James Ostler and others, Foundations of the Restoration, 207–224.
[3] “Joseph Smith Forgives William W. Phelps,” video interview of Matthew McBride, available at josephsmithpapers.org.
[4] Letter from William W. Phelps, with Appended Letter from Orson Hyde and John E. Page, 29 June 1840, p. 155, The Joseph Smith Papers
[5] Letter to William W. Phelps, 22 July 1840, 158, josephsmithpapers.org.
[6] See Charles Wesley, “An Epistle to the Reverend Mr. George Whitefield,” in Osborn, Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, 67.
[7] “Praise to the Man: The Prophet’s Legacy,” history.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.