| Show A young converts controversy catlettsburg ky june 27 1898 some time ago elder M B ship prophesied that a thriving branch would be established here in tle the near future this prophecy which was reiterated recently by elder newton woodruff seante to be on the verge of fulfilment fulfillment many maby are seriously investigating mormonism and it now requires no prophet to see the near fulfilment fulfillment of the glorious promises uttered by the elders As the work advances we shan shall expect a storm of fury As an instance I 1 will relate in all kindness an incident in my own experience the object of the narration is threefold three fold to hold up the reverend participant in his proper light to show the fallacious basis of opposition to mormonism even in the fertile brain of a D D and to point out an evidence of the divinity of our church which is doubtless new to many the writer graduated from the high school of this place on the of last may previous to the commencement exercises the learned rev Z C meek D D editor of the central methodist president of the barboursville W va college kindly volunteered to present me with a scholarship to that honored institution moreover he used his influence to secure for me a position that would enable me to earn my board and incidental expenses but having recently determined to act upon my longstanding convictions I 1 embraced the gospel Gospe lag as preached by zions hunters and fishers ashers and was baptized sed by vider elder newton woodruff and confirmed by elder 0 S walsh A few days after the baptism in accord with previous instructions I 1 called upon rev meek at his office for the catalogue just issued by his school and was not much surprised at the rather warm reception accorded me the gentleman not very politely informed me that a mormon could pollute the threshold of barboursville college under no circumstances he broke forth in a tirade against the prophet joseph and the early apostles he wished to have nothing to do with the people who repudiated his mothers holy bible by offering the book of mormon a novel written by a cracked brained school teacher as a substitute for it he then began to ridicule the mor mons for believing in new revelation when john himself plainly says that if any man shall add unto these things god shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book etc the writer ventured to inquire meekly if this passage referred to the bible the book compiled as we now have it several hundred years after the death of that apostle and he was gravely assured that such was the fact seeing that nothing could be gained by prolonging the interview further I 1 brought it to a close by thanking the gentleman for the kind efforts which he had previously put forth in my behalf and expressing deep regret for the radical change in his sentiments toward me he in turn soberly recounted the kind things which he be had told the barboursville school board concerning na and assured me lie he would be performing an unpleasant task when taking them the kind things all back and informing them that I 1 h had ad proved unworthy betrayed his confidence etc ending with the following rather personal thrust when we see a young man frequenting the saloon we know what that young man will come to and lu in the same way when EL a young man joins the mormon church we can easily see what will be his end thanking him tor for his compliments the writer took his leave rejoicing that he was counted worthy of making sacrifices and undergoing persecution for his names sake it will be seen from the foregoing that the only arguments or logic if these may be called by this name which this learned divine could produce to convince a poor benighted youth of the errors of his belief were 1 a torrent of invective against our revered prophet 2 the absurd claim that the mormons cormons repudiate the bible by substituting sti for it the book of mormon 8 the theory that john forever sealed the lips of an am omnipotent god by his simple declaration at the close of his vision on the isle of patmos in my humble opinion all three of these are too shallow to engage for a moment the consideration of any well informed person but even if the reverend gentleman had grown much more eloquent and had used far more powerful logic he would have failed utterly to make any impression upon my clouded understanding because he himself had afforded we me the most convincing proof of the divinity of the latter day work some two years ago while I 1 was still treading in the trodden paths of southern methodism rev meek took great care to impress upon the minds of his hip sunday school class of which I 1 was a member the fact that he considered the parable an indisputable evidence of the divinity of the bible regarded in this light the parable becomes an unanswerable argument which forever settles the question of the authenticity of the book of mormon verily out of their own mouths shall they be condemned THE YOUNG LAWYER ky |
