Only a short time after the events narrated it was arranged that
Parson Hall and myself should hold another discussion in the
Campbellite chapel. Parson Hall did not want to meet me in
discussion, but he must do so or lose his flock, as all the
people had become interested in the subject of Mormonism. We met
at the appointed time, and chose two umpires to act as moderators
of the meeting. The subject to be discussed was:
"Are apostles, prophets, and teachers, together with the
spiritual gifts spoken of and recorded by the Apostle Mark in his
16th chapter, necessary to the Church now as they were then?"
In his closing speech Parson Hall became very abusive and
denounced the Mormons to the lowest regions of darkness, and
called the Prophet Joseph a vile impostor. I replied to him and
closed the discussion. It had been agreed that the Old and New
Testaments should be the only authorities to be quoted by us. The
umpires refused to decide as to which one of us had the best of
the discussion. They said it rested with the people to decide for
themselves. It was evident, however, that the people were with
me. The principal topic of conversation was about this strange
Mormon doctrine.
Parson Hall's flock was by no means satisfied with his course. He
said the Mormon doctrine was the strongest Bible doctrine he had
ever heard of, and he feared the consequences of a further
discussion. But this would not satisfy the people, who wanted to
hear and learn more of it; so another discussion was agreed upon,
in which Parsons Curlee and Nichols were to assist Parson Hall,
and prompt him. The subject was:
"Is the Book of Mormon of Divine origin, and has it come forth in
direct fulfillment of prophecy? And was Joseph Smith inspired of
God?"
We selected three judges; the hall was thronged. I felt the
responsibility of my situation, but I put my trust in God to give
me light and utterance to the convincing of the honest and pure
in heart. The discussion lasted many hours. I showed conclusively,
both from the Old and New Testaments, that, in accordance with
Scripture and prophecy, the ten tribes of Israel had been broken
up and scattered upon the face of the earth. That sure and
indisputable evidence had been found and produced by which it was
certain that the North American Indians were descendants from the
ten tribes of Israel. I showed this from many customs and rites
prevalent among the Indians, and there could be no doubt, in any
rational mind, that these tribes had sprung from the remnants of
the scattered ten tribes of Israel. The prophecies of the Old and
New Testaments, the traditions and history of the Indians so far
as known, their solemn religious rites and observances, were
conclusive evidence of this fact.
And God has repeatedly promised that, in His own good time, these
tribes of Israel, this chosen people, should be again gathered
together; that a new and further revelation should be given them
and to the whole world, and that under this new dispensation Zion
should be rebuilt, and the glory of God fill the whole earth as
the waters cover the mighty deep. It should be as a sealed book
unto them, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying,
"Read this book," and he saith, "I cannot, for it is a sealed
book." It is strange that a people once so favored of God,
strengthened by His arm and counseled by His prophets and
inspired men, should have wandered and become lost to all sense
of duty to God! But so it was, until, as the prophet says, the
Book that should come unto them spoke to them out of the ground -
out of the dust of the earth; as a "familiar spirit, even out of
the dust of the earth."
The Book that was to contain the Divine revelation of God was to
come forth, written upon plates, in a language unknown to men.
But a man unlearned, not by his own power, but by the power of
God, by means of the Urim and Thummim, was to translate it into
our language. And this record, in due time, came according to
God's will. It was found deposited in the side of a mountain, or
hill, called Cumorrah, written in the reformed Egyptian language,
in Ontario County, in the State of New York. It was deposited in
a stone box, put together with cement, air-tight. The soil about
the box was worn away, until a corner of the box was visible. It
was found by the Prophet Joseph, then an illiterate lad, or young
man, who had been chosen of God as His instrument for making the
same known to men.
The Prophet Joseph was a young man of moral character, belonging
to no sect, but an earnest inquirer after truth. He was not
permitted to remove the box for a period of two years after he
found it. The angel of God that had the records in charge would
not permit him to touch them. In attempting to do so, on one
occasion, his strength was paralyzed, and the angel appeared
before him and told him how that record contained the gospel of
God and an historical account of the God of Joseph in this land;
that through their transgressions the records were taken away
from the people and hid in the earth, to come forth at the
appointed time, when the Lord should set His heart, the second
time, to recover the remnant of His people, scattered throughout
all nations; that the remnant of His people should be united with
the stick of Judah, in the hands of Ephraim, and they should
become one stick in the hands of the Lord. This is the Bible,
which is the stick of Judah, that contained the gospel and the
records of the House of Israel, till the Messiah came. The angel
further informed Joseph that when the ten tribes of Israel were
scattered one branch went to the north; that prior to the birth
of Jesus Christ the other branch left Jerusalem, taking the
records with them, of which the Book of Mormon is a part. The
branch of the ten tribes which went north doubtless have a record
with them.
When these plates containing the Book of Mormon and God's will,
as therein revealed, were removed from Ontario County, New York,
they were taken to Professor Anthon, of New York City, for
translation. He replied that he could not translate them, that
they were written in "a sealed language, unknown to the present
age." This was just as the Prophet Isaiah said it should be.
Do any of the present denominations counsel with the Lord? No,
they deny Revelation, and seek to hide their ways from Him. Upon
all such He pronounces woe. I do not wish to be considered as
casting aspersions on any other sect. It is not my purpose to do
so. The love that I have for truth and the salvation of the human
family may cause me to offend, but if I do so it is because of my
exceeding zeal to do good. Remember that the reproof of a friend
is better than the smite of an enemy. Jesus said, "Woe unto you
that are angry and offended because of the truth."
It is not policy on your part to be offended on account of the
truth. If your systems will not stand the scrutiny of men, how
can they stand the test of the great Judge of both the living and
the dead? I place a greater value upon the salvation of my soul
than I do upon all earthly considerations.
After my second discussion I began to baptize some of the leading
members of the Campbellite Church. Among the first to be baptized
were John Thompson and wife. Brother Thompson was sheriff of
Rutherford County, and an influential man. Among others who were
baptized were Wm. Pace and wife. Mrs. Pace was a sister of Parson
Nichols, who assisted Parson Hall in his last discussion with me.
Major D. M. Jarratt and wife, Mrs. Caroline Ghiliam, Major Miles
Anderson, and others were also baptized and received into the
Church.
My friend Webster, after being with me about a month, returned to
visit and strengthen the branches of the Church established in
Smith, Jackson, and Overton counties. I continued my labors on
Stone River and Creple Creek about six months. During the most of
this time I availed myself of the opportunity of studying grammar
and other English branches. During my stay I lectured three times
a week, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sunday afternoons.
Sabbath forenoon I attended the meetings of other denominations.
During this time I held four public discussions in addition to
those I had with Parson Hall. I held two discussions with the
Rev. James Trott, who for fifteen years had been a missionary to
the Cherokee Nation. I held a closing debate in that settlement
with the Rev. Mr. Cantrall, of the Campbellite faith. He came
from a distance, at the request of friends, to endeavor to save
the flock.
After consultation with Parson Hall and other members of the
flock they refused to submit to moderators or judges; neither
were they willing to be confined to the Old and New Testaments
for authority to disprove the doctrine that I defended. Their
proposition was that Mr. Cantrall should speak first, bringing
out any argument he chose; when he finished I was to conclude the
debate, and the people were to judge for themselves who had the
best of the argument.
My friends would not consent to this arrangement, but I told the
opposition they might have it their own way. If the Rev. Cantrall
wished to condescend to the platform of a blackguard, in a case
of necessity I would meet him there, though I preferred honorable
debate to slander and ridicule. This statement I made to the
assembly prior to the gentleman's mounting the stand, with
Parsons Hill, Crulee, Trott, and Nichols as prompters.
They had provided themselves with a roll of pamphlets and
newspapers, containing many of the low, cunning, lying stories
about the Prophet Joseph walking on the water, being a money
digger, an impostor, and a thousand such tales. Mr. Cantrall read
and emphasized each story, as his prompters handed them to him.
He occupied two hours and a half in this manner, and about half
an hour in trying to point out discrepancies in the Book of
Mormon.
He spoke of the absurdities of the boat that the Nephites built
in which to cross the ocean, from Asia to America, and said that
it was built tight, excepting a little hole on top for air, and
that it would shoot through the water like a fish, and ridiculed
such an absurdity. He defied me to point to any such inconsistencies
in the Holy Bible. He said the Bible was a book of common sense,
written by men inspired of God. It was full of good works and
pure characters, nothing like the impostor Joseph. He challenged
me again to point to a single instance in the Bible which would
compare with the stories in the Book of Mormon. The idea of
apostles and prophets and supernatural gifts in the Church, as in
the days of Christ, was absurd. He said the History of Nephi was
absurd and a burlesque upon common sense; that he hoped none of
the people would be led away by such nonsense and folly. I sat
facing him during all his long harangue of abuse and ridicule.
When it was my turn to speak I asked the reverend gentleman to
occupy my seat. I did not want more than thirty minutes to reply.
I said to the assembly that a sense of duty to the truth, and the
cause I had espoused, alone prompted me to make any reply to the
long tirade of abuse and sarcasm they had been listening to. The
gentleman and his prompters had gathered quite an angry-looking
cloud of pamphlets and newspaper slang and abuse, without quoting
a single passage of Scripture to disprove my position, or in
support of their own. But on the contrary, he had become an
accuser of the brethren, speaking evil of things he knew not. The
spirit of persecution, hatred, and malice is not the spirit of
the meek and lowly Saviour. The gentleman tells you that the day
of perfection has arrived, that Satan is bound in the gospel
chain, that we have no need of spiritual manifestations, that
this is the reign of Christ. Now, I will say that if this is the
millennial reign of Christ, and the devil is bound in the gospel
chain, I pity the inhabitants of the earth when he gets loose
again. After reading the description of the millennial reign, as
it shall be, as described by the Prophet Isaiah, can anyone be so
stupid as to believe that we are now living in that holy day?
Shame on him who would deceive and tamper with the souls of men!
The gentleman who told you this, doesn't believe it.
The gentleman has challenged me to produce anything from the
Bible equaling in strangeness the building of a boat like a fish,
in which the Nephites crossed the ocean from Asia to America. I
call his attention to the first chapter of the Book of Jonah.
Here a very strange craft was used for three days and nights, in
which to send a missionary to Nineveh. This craft was constructed
after the manner of the boat spoken of in the Book of Mormon. If
the prophet was correct in the description of his craft, he too
scooted through the water in the same way that the Nephites did
in their boat. The Book of Mormon is nothing more or less than a
book containing the history of a portion of the House of Israel,
who left Jerusalem about the time of the reign of Zedekiah, King
of Judah, and crossed the ocean to America; containing also the
gospel which was preached to them on this continent, which is the
same gospel as that preached by' Christ and His Apostles at
Jerusalem. The Bible and the Book of Mormon both contain a
history of the different branches of the House of Israel, and
each contains the gospel of Christ as it was preached unto them,
the different branches of the house of Israel, and to all
nations. Both testify of each other, and point with exactness to
the dispensation of the fullness of time. The Book of Mormon does
not contain a new gospel; it is the same gospel as that preached
by Christ. It is a mysterious book, just what the prophet said it
should be, "a marvelous work, a wonder." But my friend says that
it is too mysterious, too wonderful, for human credence, and
challenges me to point out anything told in the Bible that seems
inconsistent with reason or experience. Now, which is the more
reasonable, that Nephi built a boat after the pattern mentioned
in the Mormon Bible, being directed by God how to build it, and
then crossed the ocean to this continent, or that Jonah was in
the whale's belly for three days and three nights, and then made
a safe landing? Or would it sound any better if Nephi had said
that when he and his company came to the great waters, the Lord
had prepared whales, two or more, to receive them and their
outfit, and set them over on this side?
Nothing is impossible with God. If He saw fit to send Jonah on
his mission in a whale's belly, I have no fault to find with Him
for so doing. He has the right to do His own will and pleasure;
and if He instructed Nephi how to fashion his boat, or Noah to
build an ark against the deluge, or caused Balaam's ass to speak
and rebuke the madness of his master, or Moses to lead the
children of Israel through the Red Sea, without any boat at all,
or the walls of Jericho to fall to the ground, and the people to
become paralyzed through the tooting of rams' horns, or empowered
Joshua to command the sun to stand still while he slaughtered his
enemies, is any of these things more wonderful than the other?
Now one of these instances that I have selected from the Bible,
if found in the Book of Mormon, would be sufficient to stamp it
with absurdity and everlasting contempt, according to the
gentlemen who oppose me; but when found in the Bible the story
assumes another phase entirely. It is as the Saviour said of the
Pharisees, "Ye strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." My opponent
strains at a gnat, when found in the Book of Mormon, but if
camels are discovered in the Bible he swallows them by the herd.
I cannot see why a big story, told in the Bible, should be
believed any more readily than one found in the Book of Mormon.
It is not my purpose to find discrepancies in the characters of
the ancient prophets or inspired writers, but my opponent has
challenged me to produce from the Bible a character of such
disrepute as that of Joseph, the Mormon Prophet. Now I will say
that of the characters I shall mention we have only their own
history or account of what they did. Their enemies and contemporaries
have long since passed away. But if their enemies could speak
worse of them than they have of themselves, decency would blush
to read their story. I will refer to only a few instances.
Moses, the meek, as he is called, murdered an Egyptian that
strove with an Israelite, and had to run away from his country
for the offense. He was afterwards sent by God to bring the
Israelites out of bondage. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
He built the ark, and was saved through the deluge. His name has
been handed down from posterity to posterity, in honorable
remembrance, as one who feared God and worked righteousness. But
we find him soon after the Flood getting drunk, exposing his
nakedness, and cursing a portion of his own posterity. Lot, whose
family was the only God-fearing family in Sodom and Gomorrah,
rescued by the angel of God from the judgments that overwhelmed
those cities, when only a short distance from Sodom became drunk
and debauched his daughters. Think of the conduct of David with
Uriah's wife - and David was, we are told, a man after God's own
heart. Also Judah, Judge in Israel. Peter cursed and swore and
denied his Master. The enemies of Christ said He was a gluttonous
man and a wine bibber, a friend of the publicans and sinners;
that after the people at the marriage feast were well drunken, He
turned water into wine that they might have more to drink; that
in the cornfield He plucked the cars of corn and ate them; that
He saw an ass hitched, and without leave took it and rode into
Jerusalem; that He went into the Temple and overset the tables of
the money changers and took cords and whaled them out, telling
them they had made His Father's house a den of thieves. I am
aware that all Christians justify the acts of Christ, because He
was the Son of God. But the people at that time did not believe
Him to be the Son of God, any more than the gentleman believes
that Joseph is the prophet of God. I have alluded to these
instances merely in answer to the challenge imposed upon me by my
opponent.
Few seem to comprehend that man, in and of himself, is frail,
weak, needy, and dependent, although the Creator placed within
his reach, as a free agent, good and evil, and instilled in the
heart of every rational being a degree of light that makes us
sensitive to, and teaches us right from, wrong. As the Saviour
says:
"There is a light that lighteth every man that cometh into the
world."
My argument as I relate it here has been abbreviated very much,
lest I tire my readers. I had scarcely closed speaking before my
reverend opponents were making for the door. They would have
nothing more to do with the Mormons. Some were honest enough,
however, to acknowledge that Mormonism had stood the test; that
it could not be disproved from the Bible, and sooner or later all
other creeds would have to give way to it, or deny the Bible, for
the more it was investigated the more popular it would become, as
it would expose the many weak points and inconsistencies of the
different denominations. Others denounced it as an imposition,
and warned their adherents to have nothing to do with it. This
kind of talk from the pulpit served to give Mormonism a new
impetus. I soon baptized many converts, and organized branches in
that and adjoining counties of over one hundred members.