George Moore Witnesses Miraculous Healing Through Priesthood Power in Nauvoo

While visiting Nauvoo, the Unitarian minister Reverend George Moore learned of miraculous healings occurring among the Latter-day Saints through the power of the priesthood. He recorded an account of one of his parishioners, Joseph L. Heywood, who had been converted to Mormonism: 'He then told me he had received that which was satisfactory to himself--that Elder [Orson] Hyde laid hands upon him, and prayed over him, while he was suffering from a severe nervous head-ache, and the head-ache departed--and that he believed this was a miracle wrought upon himself.' Moore also reported witnessing accounts from other Mormons about additional miracles of healing: 'Another Mormon told George Moore how his withered leg was healed, and went on to describe how his wife's crooked arm had been straightened.' Though Reverend Moore was skeptical of the Mormon faith, he could not deny the reports of these miraculous healings that were occurring in the community. These accounts, which Moore himself heard from the beneficiaries of the healings, demonstrated that the Latter-day Saints genuinely believed in and practiced faith healing through the power of God. The healing of the withered leg and the straightening of the crooked arm were particularly notable miracles that impressed even the skeptical observer.