MR. NEWTON, THE BAPTIST PREACHER, WRESTLING WITH OUR TESTIMONY--REJECTS
IT, AND BEGINS TO OPPOSE--SENDS TO A METHODIST MINISTER TO HELP
HIM--MR. DOUGLASS' SPEECH--OUR GREAT SUCCESS ON THE NORTH ISLAND--GO
TO THE SOUTH ISLAND AND BAPTIZE MR DOUGLASS' FLOCK--GREAT NUMBER OF
ISLANDS--BOILED CLAMS--DAY OF PRAYER--CODFISH FLAKES.
During the first thirteen days of our sojourn upon the island we
preached seventeen discourses, being invited by the people to tarry
with them. I left a copy of the Doctrine and Covenants with Mr. Newton
for his perusal.
He read it, and the Spirit of God bore testimony to him of its truth.
He pondered over it for days, and he walked his room until midnight
trying to decide whether to receive or reject it.
He and his family attended about a dozen of my first meetings, and then
he made up his mind, contrary to the dictation of the Spirit of God
to him, to reject the testimony, and come out against me. However, we
commenced baptizing his flock.
The first two we baptized were a sea captain, by the name of Justin
Eames, and his wife. Brother Jonathan H. Hale went down into the sea
and baptized them on the 3rd of September, and these were the first
baptisms performed by proper authority upon any of the islands of the
sea (to my knowledge) in this dispensation.
Before we left Kirtland some of the leading apostates there had tried
to discourage Brother Hale about going upon his mission, telling him
he would never baptize any one, and he had better remain at home. When
Captain Eames offered himself for baptism, I told Brother Hale to go
and baptize him, and prove those men false prophets, and he did so.
On the following Sabbath I baptized his brother, Ebenezer Eames,
another sea captain, and a young lady.
Mr. Newton, the Baptist minister, now commenced a war against us, and
sent to the South Island for a Mr. Douglass, a Methodist minister (with
whom he had been at variance for years) to come over and help him put
down "Mormonism."
Mr. Douglass came over, and they got as many people together as they
could and held a conference. He railed against Joseph, the prophet,
and the Book of Mormon, and, taking that book in his hand, with
out-stretched arm, declared that he feared none of the judgments of God
that would come upon him for rejecting it as the word of God. (I never
heard what his sentiments upon this subject were at the end of his term
of fourteen years' imprisonment in the Thomaston Penitentiary, for an
outrage upon his daughter, the judgment of which was given upon the
testimony of his wife and daughter.)
I was present and heard Mr. Douglass' speech upon this occasion, and
took minutes of the same. When he closed I arose and informed the
people that I would meet with them next Sunday in the meeting-house,
and answer Mr. Douglass, and wished him as well as the people to be
present.
I informed the people that Mr. Douglass had made false statements
against Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints, with whom he had no
acquaintance, and he had misquoted much scripture, all of which I could
correct.
We continued to baptize the people of the North Island until we
had baptized every person who owned an interest in the Baptist
meeting-house. I then followed Mr. Douglass home to the South Island
and preached the gospel to and baptized nearly all the members of his
church.
The excitement became great upon both islands, and on Sunday, the 17th
of September, I met a large assembly from both Islands, and took the
same subject that Mr. Douglass had dwelt upon in his remarks against
the Book of Mormon and our principles.
I spoke two-and-a-half hours, and answered every objection against the
Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith or our principles.
I had good attention, and the people seemed satisfied. At the close of
the meeting Elder Hale administered the ordinance of baptism.
Mr. Newton, in order to save his cause, went to the mainland and
brought over several ministers with him and held a protracted meeting.
They hoped by this to stop the work of God, but all to no avail, for
the whole people would attend our meeting and receive the word of God,
and we continued to baptize.
We visited the dwellings of most of the inhabitants during our sojourn
there.
Upon one occasion, while standing upon Mr. Carver's farm on the east
end of the North Island, we counted fifty-five islands in that region,
the majority of which were not inhabited. We also saw twenty ships
under sail at the same time.
We had no lack for food while upon the island, for if we did not wish
to trouble our friends for a dinner, we only had to borrow a spade
or a hoe and a kettle and go to the beach and dig a peck of clams.
These, when boiled, would make a delicious meal, which we often availed
ourselves of.
One day, Elder Hale and I ascended to the top of a high granite rock
upon the South Island, for prayer and supplication. We sat down under
the shade of a pine tree which grew out of a fissure in a rock, and
Elder Hale read the 16th chapter of Jeremiah, where mention is made of
the hunters and fishers that God would send in the last days to gather
Israel.
Of a truth here we were upon an Island of the sea, standing upon a
rock where we could survey the gallant ships and also the islands,
which were as full of rocks, ledges and caves as any part of the earth.
And what had brought us here? To search out the blood of Ephraim, the
honest and meek of the earth, and gather them from those islands,
rocks, holes and caves of the earth unto Zion.
We prayed, and rejoiced together. The Spirit of God rested upon us; we
spoke of Christ and the ancient prophets and apostles in Jerusalem;
of Nephi, Alma, Mormon and Moroni in America; Joseph, Hyrum, Oliver
and the apostles in our own day, and we rejoiced that we were upon the
islands of the sea searching out the blood of Israel.
While being filled with these meditations and the Spirit of God, we
fell upon our knees and gave thanks to the God of heaven, and felt to
pray for all Israel.
After spending most of the day in praise and thanksgiving, we descended
to the settlement and held a meeting with the people.
On the 6th of September we called upon Captain Benjamin Coombs, and
visited his flakes, where he had one thousand quintals of codfish
drying for the market. They had mostly been caught in the region of
Newfoundland. While we were passing Carvey's Wharf our attention was
called to a large school of mackerel playing by the side of the wharf.
Several men were pitching them out with hooks. We also flung in a hook
and caught all we wanted, then went on our way.