| 296 knowledge of this awful imposition. The article alluded to may be found in an extremely religious paper called the 'Morning Star,' published in Dover, New Hampshire, by the trustees of the Freewill Baptist Connection, and edited under their direction; in speaking of its being extremely religious, we think that we shall be sustained by some remarks quoted from it; "3; All we have or possess is to be heartily dedicated to the service and honor of God; our affections, our bodies, our talents, our friends, and our property." "A salvation from all sin; victory over, or freedom from our corrupt and wicked propensities," &c. &c. From such a paper, under the direction of such a body, and the advocate of such principles, we may expect to receive true intelligence; and this 'Morning Star' may be a light unto our feet until the day dawns. But now for the article:
A MORMON PERVERSION EXPOSED.
"These signs shall follow them that believe: In may name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues: They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; and they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover: Mark 16:17: 18.
It is said that the Mormons often quote this passage to prove that the power of working miracles was to be perpetuated in the church-a power which they pretend exists among their ministers. That they have not the power promised by our Lord to 'them that believe,' is evident from the following facts."
"1. They cannot cast out devils."
"IT IS SAID." Is this the foundation for the arguments of this great disciple of truth; this champion of the Freewill Baptist order; this learned exposee [expose]? After all our pains, and patience, and investigation, are we to have no better grounds whereon to rest our information relative to this great delusion than something that is barely hypothetical; merely assumption, without evidence, testimony, or proof. As this is a new, arrogant and presumptive manner of adducing testimony, it will behoove us to enquire [inquire] who this writer is, or if there is any precedent for such a proceeding; for if there is not, we shall have to despatch it as being altogether untenable. But as we wish to give all parties a fair hearing, we will investigate the matter fully, and see if we can find any precedent for such a mode of proceeding. We know that such premises would not be admitted by any of our modern, or ancient logicians, nor received in our courts of justice, and that most of our modern divines would be very far from admitting it into any of their polemical essays; but as the Baptist Church boasts of its antiquity, perhaps by the ancient records we may be able to find some precedent for such an un-modern, anti-logical course of proceeding. Solomon says that "there is nothing new under the sun;" that "the thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done, it is that which shall be done." So we may expect according to this statement, that however immodern there mode of proceeding may be, it must have "already been," and that some of the ancients have practiced the like.
We find by examining the situation of the churches in our Savior's day, that there was an honorable body of men associated with a church with whom was connected of old men of renown, they were called Pharisees, but from what we can learn, although the name is dissimilar, as the practice is the same, we think they must have belonged to the same church, for they "said" of Christ he hath a devil; they said that he cast out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of devils; they "said' when Christ rose from the dead, that 'his disciples came and stole him away by night,' and so honorable was their testimony, that we are told the saying is reported among the Jews 'unto this day.' They must have belonged to the Freewill Baptist church. We find also an honorable church in Ephesus, of the Freewill Baptist order, who like our modern Baptists, were very zealous for the cause of truth, and violently opposed error, particularly when their craft was in danger, for when the heritic [heretic] Paul was preaching false doctrine in their midst, they were exasperated:-Acts, 19;23, 27.
"And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftmen [craftsmen], whom he called together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth; moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost through all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away much people, saying, that they be no gods which are made with hands: So that not only our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be dispised [despised], and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipped."
And when they heard "these sayings," they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, great is Diana of the Ephesians. There were some of a similar kind, yet more ancient, they lived in Jermiah's day. It would seem however, that as though they were of a very respectable class, the Lord was not well pleased with them. However they had the honor of men. 'I am against the prophets saith the Lord, that use their own tongue, and say 'he saith,' It is evident from the analogy they bear to the Freewill
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