human
You maintain that your prophet is sent to establish a third dispensation. I demand, therefore, what signs are given to prove his commission?
gpt
Latter-day Church. I said that signs of that kind were of a very doubtful description, since the imagination possessed great power over the nervous system. I inquired whether Smith had ever walked across the Mississippi, or brought a dead man to life, He replied in the negative; but said, that among them the blind received their sight, and the ears of the deaf were opened. I then observed,
human
You perceive that I am rather deaf, and you say that I have no faith. Now can you open my ears so that I may hear your arguments more distinctly? Immediately the old man stepped forward, and before I was aware of his object, thrust his fore-fingers into my ears, and lifting up his eyes, uttered for about a minute in a loud voice some unintelligible gibberish.
gpt
There, he said finally,
human
gpt
But my hearing is not improved, I said.
human
That, he replied,
gpt
I looked at him somewhat severely and said,
human
Take care, old man, what you say. When you employ the names of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, you should speak with awe and reverence; but you and other Mormons here, as far as I have observed, employ the most sacred terms with the most disgusting levity. How miserable, how barren were your services on last Sunday; how cold your worship, how utterly unedifying and farcical your preaching. The Holy Ghost was manifestly absent from your assembly, which resembled a Jewish Synagogue more than a Christian congregation. There was no Bible, there was no Lord's Prayer, there were no motives presented to humiliation, self-examination, or any branch of devotion; nothing but senseless speculations on the character of God, idle assertions of special revelations and miraculous gifts, and disgraceful advertisements of stolen goods. Here they interrupted me and said, that their preachers did not need the Bible, being inspired by the Holy Ghost.
gpt
No, I said,
human
gpt
No, they replied.
human
Would you believe him if he should say that English is French?
gpt
Certainly not.
human
But you heard your prophet declare, that this book of mine is a Dictionary of Egyptian hieroglyphics, written in characters like those of the original Book of Mormon. I know it most positively to be the Psalms of David, written in ancient Greek. Now what shall I think of your prophet? They appeared confounded for a while; but at length the Mormon doctor said,
gpt
Sometimes Mr. Smith speaks as a prophet, and sometimes as a mere man. If he gave a wrong opinion respecting the book, he spoke as a mere man. I said,
human
Whether he spoke as a prophet or as a mere man, he has committed himself, for he has said what is not true. If he spoke as a prophet, therefore, he is a false prophet. If he spoke as a mere man, he cannot be trusted, for he spoke positively and like an oracle respecting that of which he knew nothing. You have talked to me very freely respecting the Church to which I belong; but I hardly like to tell you what I think respecting your religion, lest I should hurt your feelings.
gpt
Speak out, said some.
human
Go on, said others.
gpt
If Smith be not a true prophet, I said,
human
gpt
We must, they replied.
human
Then I will freely tell you my opinion, so that you may not think that I intend to say at a distance what I would not say in Nauvoo itself. I think it likely that most of you are credulous and ignorant, but well-meaning persons, and that the time at least _has_ been when you desired to do the will of God. A knot of designing persons, of whom Smith is the centre, have imposed upon your credulity and ignorance, and you have been most thoroughly hoaxed by their artful devices. Mahomet himself was a gentleman, a Christian, and a scholar, when compared with your prophet. And oh! how mournful to look round, as I can at present, and to reflect, how many have been drawn away from their homes, dragged across earth and sea, and brought to this unwholesome spot, where, with the loss of substance and of health, they are too often left to perish in wretched poverty and bitter disappointment. One of the Mormons who had listened attentively to what I said, now remarked with some solemnity of manner,
gpt
If we are deceived, then are we of all men the most miserable.
human
Indeed I believe you are most miserable, I replied,
gpt
Several of them now said that faith is the gift of God, that God had promised to give wisdom to those who should ask it; that they had prayed to God to guide them into all truth, and that He had led them to believe in the book of Mormon. I replied that God had appointed certain means of ascertaining the truth, and that if we neglect those means it will be vain to pray to Him for guidance. Thus He had declared his Church to be the pillar and ground of truth. But it was evident that they had not built upon the true ground, for they had attached themselves not to the apostolic Church, but a sect barely fifteen years old. The old man in blue now told me that they pitied me as much as I pitied them.
human
Come, my friend, he said to me,
gpt
I told him in reply, that to submit to such a baptism would be almost the greatest sacrilege which a Christian could commit.
human
I must now leave you, I proceeded,
gpt
I have been among you three days; I have expressed my sentiments freely respecting your religion and your prophet, and I heartily thank you that you have listened to me with attention, and that although you have had me altogether in your power, you have not put me under the Mississippi and kept me there.
human
My oars are gone; somebody has hooked my oars.
gpt
Who has taken your oars? I asked.
human
Some of the boys, I guess, he replied.
gpt
What! some of the young Latter-day Saints? I said.
human
I guess it was, he answered.
gpt
But do not the young saints learn the ten commandments, I demanded,
human
gpt
I guess they know them all, the poor man answered,
human
Accordingly he took a piece of board in his hands, and having given another piece to one of his companions, he proceeded rather awkwardly to paddle across the wide and rapid stream. A third piece of board was given to the doctor, who sat with me in the stern, to be used as a rudder. For some time we advanced tolerably well; but before long the doctor began to argue with me vehemently. He said that no man could obtain salvation, who devoted so little attention to the truth of God as I had done; and that instead of spending only three days, I ought to have remained at least three weeks at Nauvoo. I told him that I had seen quite enough to convince any person of ordinary understanding, that Smith was an impostor. He replied that Smith might be as bad as he was reported to be, but that his prophecies would not thereby be proved false. He might be a swindler, a liar, a drunkard, a swearer, and still be a true prophet. David was a murderer and an adulterer, and yet was a true prophet. St. Peter said that even in his time
gpt
David had not yet ascended into heaven. David was in hell, for no murderer had eternal life abiding in him. So Smith might be as infamous as David was, and even deny his own revelations, and turn away from his religion, and go to hell; but this would not affect the revelations which God had given by him. It was in vain that I attempted to correct the doctor's false positions; the stream of his eloquence had begun to flow, and, finally, I suffered it to flow unchecked. He said that the truth of Mormonism did not depend on the character of Smith or of any other man. That our Lord had told the Jews that there were other sheep, not of that fold, whom He intended to bring, and that in accordance with this declaration, after his ascension into heaven, He descended again in America and preached the Gospel to the Indians, as the veracious history of the book of Mormon assured us. That for his own part, his faith had been produced solely by the power of God, and that if he was deceived, God Almighty had deceived him, and no other.
human
I was once an honest Atheist, he proceeded,
gpt
I felt that Christianity could not be true, since Christians have not yet decided among themselves what Christianity is. I was induced by curiosity to listen to the preaching of a Mormon elder. My attention was strongly arrested; I began to believe in God, and for many weeks and months was earnest in my prayers to Him for a knowledge of the truth. After the space of six months, I was one night lying awake in my bed meditating, when suddenly a conviction of the reality of the Christian religion flashed upon my mind like lightning. I saw the truth of the Scriptures and of the book of Mormon. I felt powerfully convinced that the prophecies of Joseph Smith were from God. At the same time I was filled with a supernatural extasy which resembled heaven itself. I could not restrain my feelings, but cried out, O my God, if it be thus to be baptized with the Holy Ghost, what must it be to be baptized with fire! From that time I have been a member of the 'Latter-day Church,' and, believe me, I would rather be an honest Atheist again, than embrace the doctrines of any of the sects. If the religion which I profess be false, there is no true religion upon earth.