| Show A CONTEST WITH SIGN r two elders in tennessee meet them FLINT VILLE E lincoln co june 39 30 1887 editor deseret netos jesus said unto bim it is written again huou shall not tempt the lord thy god mat 4 7 then certain of the scribes and pharisees Pharis ees answered saying master we would see a sign from froin thee but tie be answered and said unto thew them an evil and adulterous generation atter a sign but there shall do sign fin ty be given it but the sign piga of u the prophet jonas 11 matt 12 38 3 show us a bi bin n 11 give those Zon converts verts of yours a dosoon dose of deadly poison and tee bee itil it IE wont kill them thefil 6 if let a rattlesnake bite bile 3 QU ou a and rid it dont hurt you ill join bour oar church etc halac the dead allut put an arm on this man people never die then in your country do they and so on with wit 11 which every elder is acquainted that lias has traveled iu in the midat of this per perverse verbe generation falsely called Carist endow preace preaching gitig at doctrine very unpopular although the elie gospel of jesus climit cm id the pharisees Pharis ees exis existing ting anciently must have been but the scud to and produce a mammoth crot crop in tile the dispensation of tile the f cluess ol of times last sunday in moore county was a model day with us among the SIGN SEEKERS A couple of these characters fl figured ared very conspicuously these divines are of the persuasion ion but better known as parsons heiby and shaw we held meeting at brother holtons Hel tons tous in ton consequence sequence zif of the baptism of himself wife and three others the sunday before this thia was ivas the development of some of our dry branc beb lieb alter after being labored with two years As is usually the case when people take upon them the name of christ it had a tendency to stir up the devil or his deputies one days notice about baptizing ti in was enough to bring out about mixed souls some were of israel others were curiosity seekers or ign seekers and others were standing neutral of course the greatest care and add anxiety was the anticipation of seeing the holy ghost come down clown at the continuation confirmation ine meeting etina you may ludge judge how they got their little cups cupa tilled filled up in that respect but let us return to I 1 LAST SUNDAYS proceedings our meeting drew out a congregation of eighty including our newly made saints and these two modern divines 11 the intention of the latter wa was s to reply to our remarks and overthrow mormonism As we claim the privilege of borshi worshiping p almighty god accordi according tig to the dictates of our own consciences and a ilow allow all men the same them worship how where or what they may we advanced our own doctrine aria and let other ather peoples alone but this respect was not paid to us immediately after our services parson K took the floor to reply his principle intention was to shuw show tuat that the book of mormon way was a delusion and that it was not the particular book bok mentioned by isaiah although we said nothing about it in our 0 ur discourse he commenced on the chapter of isaiah blundered around for a while but failed entirely to explain any anything t ng about the particular book an and the next thins thing we knew he was quoting the josephites and other statements something like the western wilds and wound up by vilifying and slandering our people and continually co 11 wanting a sign sien this called for a reply on our part and elder S took the stand and and explained the whole book question predicted by bv isaiaa ic Is aiau and of its emerging out of the ground the smedley bad now beun begun to last two hours my opponent made toe second speech his colleague the third elder 8 comma coming in turn and ending the dis cushion cuss ion with the third warning we are sot not la in the habit of debating and avoid it as much as possible but this was inevitable it certainly resulted in our interest and to the condemnation dem nation of those who tight fight against zion it was a good opportunity to expose mormonism people remarked they heard beard much more than they bargained for and would sot not have missed it for anything it was an excellent thing to encourage and build up the saints TO SEE THE CONTRAST and set people thinking that never thought before our 0 ui opponents 0 apo bents position was to fight il 11 ht against the kingdom k of god 0 our u r post tion was to afe e cad it so wild lor a sign was mr ii ic that he said 1 I would to god somebody would give you a dose of poison we gave them to understand that we were not no going to ta tempt the lord and no sign should be given only the sign of repentance not much repentance among the tares we should not get the cart before the horse jesus said that signs should follow not go faith we can promise them to all who receive our oar proclamation knowing they always follow if we do our part another one says 9 it seems you men have been a long tim inizia 6 n i t nt y getting five converts our retaliation talia on well we presume r e w were elre I 1 doing as well as noah ee he p preached r clie d the gospel one hundred and twenty years and only won eight souls the mob fever looking up says 1 I think you ou ought bt to be drove out of the county one of us can now realize why he was the night previous dreaming about snakes we find many important P things and instructions revealed ed by means of dreams prospects forthe for the future armbright are bright andee and we anticipate more baptisms in the future that is if you will allow us to Q build castles in the air we feel encouraged in our labors and never afraid of the kingdom being given to another people through h ei external causes good health is such a common thing with us we wont mention it your brethren in the gospel JNO W EZRA F WALKER |
