John Nelson Hyde (November 9, 1865 – February 17, 1912), known as John Hyde, was an American
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
who preached in the
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
.
Biography
Born in Illinois, the son of a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister, this minister prayed that
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
would raise up more missionaries. John Hyde passed college and became a member of the faculty. Strangely, he resigned and entered into
McCormick Theological Seminary
McCormick Theological Seminary is a private Presbyterian seminary in Chicago, Illinois. It shares a campus with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, bordering the campus of the University of Chicago. A letter of intent was signed on May ...
. His elder brother Edmund was also in the seminary. Edmund dreamed of being a preacher, so in pursuit of that
dream
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...
he went to preach in
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
but suddenly died of a
fever
Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a body temperature, temperature above the human body temperature, normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, set point. There is not a single ...
. John wondered if he would take his brother's place. In his senior year, he asked a fellow student, Mr. Konkle, for his argument supporting missionary work. That night he decided to become a missionary at last.
He came to believe that God was calling him to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. He departed to India in 1892 to preach in the Punjab region. On the way, he read a letter from a friend who said he would ask God to fill John with the
Holy Spirit
In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...
. Angry at the suggestion that he did not already have the Spirit, he threw it away. However he then humbled himself and prayed to God for help.
As he was partially
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...
, he struggled to learn the native languages. Also while in India, he continued to focus his study mostly on Scripture. His mission at first gained few converts and endured persecution, so he began to pray very intensely. From 1899 he began to spend entire nights in prayer to God. In 1904, he began to attend a conference at
Sialkot
Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...
. He formed the
Punjab Prayer Union, the members of which set aside half an hour a day to pray for spiritual revival. In 1908 he told the conference his dream that there would be one conversion a day, and a year later over 400 more converts had been made. He came to be called "Praying Hyde" for his passionate prayers to reach lost souls.
In April 1911 he joined evangelist
J. Wilbur Chapman in an evangelistic visit to three towns in England, including
Shrewsbury,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
. Immediately afterwards he stayed with friends in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, where he fell ill. He had been praying intensely when in Shrewsbury, explaining "The burden of Shrewsbury was very heavy, but my Saviour's burden took him down to the grave".
[Shrewsbury Local History Project website, article "Effective Prayer"]
/ref> His heart had moved from its normal position (in the left) to the right. Though it's more likely he had Dextrocardia
Dextrocardia (from Latin ''dextro'', meaning "right hand side," and Greek ''kardia'', meaning "heart") is a rare congenital condition in which the apex of the heart is located on the right side of the body, rather than the more typical placement t ...
, a congenital condition where one is born with their heart in a right-hand position rather than the left. He went home to Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571.
Northampton is known as an acade ...
where a malignant brain tumour was discovered, and he died there after an operation, in February 1912, aged 46.[ His last words were "Shout the victory of Jesus Christ!" He was buried in his family's plot in Moss Ridge Cemetery in ]Carthage, Illinois
Carthage is a city and the county seat of Hancock County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,490 as of the 2020 census, Carthage is best known for being the site of the 1844 death of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint mov ...
.
Through his missionary work in Sialkot, Pakistan, millions of people accepted Jesus Christ, from the seeds of the Gospel which he planted.
References
* Carré, E. G. (1987), ''Praying Hyde: Apostle of Prayer'', Bridge-Logos Publishers. .
External links
A brief biography at CBN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyde, John Nelson
American evangelicals
Presbyterian missionaries in India
American Presbyterian missionaries
American expatriates in India
1865 births
1912 deaths