1837-05-05-Christian Watchman-Mormonism
Mormonism: Scene in a Stage Coach
Christian Watchman, v18 n18, 5 May 1837
Soon after I took my seat, I ascertained there was a Mormon in the stage, and that he was one of their preachers: from which circumstance, I was led to hope that he was a man of sufficient substance to feel an argument. As soon as a favorable opportunity presented itself, I introduced the subject, by saying that I wished for some information which I presumed he could give, respecting the mode of defending their scheme, against certain objections that were brought against it,—and which, could they be brought against the christian religion, I could not answer, nor could I receive this religion with its claims, as having come from God.
I begged of him, therefore, at the outset, to answer the following questions: as they contained principles upon which all I had to say of Mormons or Mormonism, was founded. "In proving the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be from God, do we not place much reliance on that which is called internal evidence?" He could not answer, for it was apparent to all, he did not know what was internal testimony. I asked again "Do we not depend on that which is properly circumstantial evidence?" Here again he attempted to reply, without discovering to us all, his utter ignorance of the meaning of the terms; but that was impossible. He showed himselfa perfect baby here. i next shaped my question, so as to give an example of the kind of argument to which I referred. "Do you not know," said I, "that a book, which should lay claim to high antiquity, pretending to contain an account of what had taken place six or eight hundred years ago, should it contain such terms as "gunpowder, steam-engine, or rail-road car," would not need any other proof of its falsity, since it is impossible, in the very nature of things, for these terms to exist before the things for which they stand;—unless an effect can exist before its cause?" Here, again, he refused to say, "yea," or "nay," for reasons best known to himself. After waiting some time, I put to him a plainer case:— "Suppose this man by my side pulls out of his pocket a book, which he pronounces a faithful account of certain enterprises which were said to have been undertaken in the reign of the Czars—in the course of the narration, it was found necessary to use the terms, "mariner's compass," in the way they are frequently used at the present day;—should I not be authorized to declare as soon as my eye caught a glimpse of these terms, "Sir, your story is false?" The mariner's compass was not in being then: the terms themselves are proof that your whole story is a fabrication."
