O Come and Go Along With Me

Yesterday the Light the World invitation was this: “Like Jesus, you can honor those who came before. Learn about one of your ancestors and share their story on social media.” Leonard Wilford Hardy was my third-great grandfather on my mother’s side, and I learned today a little about his conversion story. He was taught the gospel in the fall of 1832 by Samuel Smith and Orson Hyde in Massachusetts. Samuel Smith recorded on Sep. 3, “Spent some time at the house of Mr. Hardy. Found him in bondage, being bound by false doctrine. He had been taught that he must not pray, that it was not right. But we taught him that he must pray and he appeared to believe what we told him.” Soon thereafter the missionaries left, but they came back to the area towards the end of November and Orson Hyde recorded that they visit Leonard Hardy again. He further described a meeting that Sunday Dec. 2: “Samuel spoke awhile and then gave way for me. The Solemnity of eternity was upon us and almost every eye was full of tears -- A meeting time with Saints and sinners -- one poor sinner arose all melted down, and said, 'We should go down to the waters of baptism.' Cautioned to speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, saying, 'My friends are there not some of you that are convinced of your duty and will go to the water with me; I invite you to come, O come and go along with me.' Three more came forward -- and we went to the water with four through the snow, broke the ice, and went into the water." One of those who was baptized in the icy waters of a pond in northeastern Massachusetts was Leonard Hardy shortly before his 27^th birthday.

I love that invitation from Orson Hyde to all of us to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ: “O come and go along with me.” His words are like those of Alma to the inhabitants of Gideon: “Come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism” (Alma 7:15). The message of the gospel in all ages has always been encapsulated in that single word of invitation to all as also spoken by the Savior to the disciples of John: “Come and see” (John 1:39). The Savior invites us all, “Come and go along with me”, “Come and fear not”, “Come and see”, and “Come unto me” (Matt. 11:28). Leonard Hardy accepted that invitation to come, even though it meant entered an icy pond to be baptized, and he stayed true to that covenant he made throughout his life. He eventually made it to Utah with the Saints and served as the first counselor to the Presiding Bishop there for many years.     

                I was excited by one other fact I was reminded of about my ancestor today. About 12 years after he joined the Church, and just after the Prophet Joseph was killed, he left on a mission. One biography records, “Leonard went on a mission to England, in company with Milton Holmes, Apostle Wilford Woodruff & his wife and child, Dan Jones & his wife, and Hiram Clark and his wife. They left New York 6 December 1844 and arrived in England on the 4th of January. Leonard labored in the Manchester and Preston Conferences. He presided over the Preston Conference prior to his departure home in the fall of 1845.” So Leonard Hardy and his wife traveled with Dan Jones, who was my fourth-great grandfather on my father’s side. Thus these two of my ancestors from different sides of my family spent a month together crossing the ocean as they went to the British Isles to preach the gospel. Dan Jones would serve for five years as a missionary in Wales, helping in the conversion of thousands of his fellow Welsh people as prophesied by the Prophet Joseph Smith just before his martyrdom. I was impressed by this description of Dan Jones from George A. Smith in 1849: “Captain Dan Jones understands his duty and surely he has done nobly in building up the kingdom of God in his native land and conducting the company he has across the mighty deep.” Both he and Leonard Hardy valiantly served the Lord, laboring diligently to invite others to come unto the Savior and “go along with [them]” in the gospel path.