| 26 A SINGULAR CASE OF HERESY.
We had the following handed to us for publication, and had we not been somewhat conversant with the folly of sectarianism, we could not have believed that a body of church officers could have been found in the United States, so egregiously ignorant as those who formed the tribunal, at which the following excommunicating sentence was passed.
Resolved. That William Seichrist be excluded from the fellowship of this church for embracing and maintaining a heresy, to wit:-Doctrines peculiar to a late sect called Mormons or Latter-Day Saints, that miracles can be wrought through the instrumentality of Faith, that special Revelations from God are now given to men, and that godly men are now endowed with the gift of Prophecy, such as to foretell future events.
WILLIAM BENSON, Ch. Clk.
Sept. 28, 1842.
I do certify the above resolution to be a true copy of the original, excluding my son from the fellowship of the First Regular Baptist Church of the City of Alleghany, Alleghany County, Pennsylvania.
Moderator, DEACON JOHN BECK,}
Ch. Clk., DEA. WM. BENSON. } C. SEICHRIST.
The crime with which Mr. Seichrist stands charged is that of heresy; and that not only of believing it but "embracing and maintaining" it. Now as heresies are at all times to be dreaded, it is of the most paramount importance that we be enabled to detect heretical doctrines and abide by the truth; for Paul prophesies that "men will bring in damnable heresies," therefore if heresies are damnable in their nature, those that embrace and maintain them must be damned, and consequently are not fit members of a christian community. But now for the heresies referred to.
Heresy 1st. "Doctrines peculiar to a late sect called Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints that miracles can be wrought, through the instrumentality of faith."
I always thought that every school-boy who had read his bible believed this thing! for the scripture says, "all things are possible to them that believe." By faith Moses divided the Read Sea; by faith Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and the moon in the valley of Adjelon [Ajelon, I. V.; Aijalon, K. J.]; these men must have been strongly tinctured, with doctrines peculiar to the "Latter-Day Saints,' and Paul must have been a notorious heretic for he says that, "by faith they wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths of lions, waxed valiant in fight, put to flight the armies of the aliens, out of weakness were made strong"-that "by faith they subdued kingdoms," and through faith "women received their dead to life," and others were tortured not accepting deliverance;" That Enoch was translated by it; and the "through faith the worlds were framed." He further states that "without faith it is impossible to please God." These characters must all of them have been notorious heretics, for they all believed that miracles could be wrought by faith; and it was very fortunate for them, that they were not members of the first regular Baptist Church of the city of Allegany [Alleghany ?] or they would have been expelled, for holding doctrines peculiar to the Latter-Day Saints; but what made their case worse was that, they not only entertained these doctrines while alive; but they "all died in faith," therefore we may reasonably expect that there will be a goodly number of them in the eternal world, that hold the same doctrines as the Latter-Day Saints.
Heresy 2d. "That special revelations from God, are now given to men"
Noah had it revealed to him that God was going to destroy the world by water, and that he should build an ark. Moses had it revealed unto him, that he should lead the children of Israel from Egypt to Palestine; Abraham, and Lot, had it revealed to them that Sodom, and Gomorrah, should be destroyed; it was revealed to Jonah, that Ninevah should be destroyed except they repented; to Jeremiah that Babylon should be overthrown; to Isaiah that Jesus should appear-be rejected, and crucified; it was revealed to our Savior that Jerusalem should be destroyed; and that there should not be left one stone upon another that should not be thrown down. These were all special revelations, and they of course did not belong to the First Regular Baptist church or they would have been expelled by them.-Agabus, Peter, Paul, John, all of them had special revelations, and of course did not belong to the Baptist church: in fact the Bible is chiefly made up of revelation; and so far as that testimony goes, they are as old as Adam, as modern as John, and as scriptural as the Old and New Testaments.
But this may not be the difficulty; perhaps they might not consider it heresy for the people in those days to have special revelations, that God has changed, and that what was orthodox then, is now heresy-the board may have taken this into consideration, or they may not: they have not informed us; they have stated that they consider it heresy to believe that "special revelations" from God, are now given to men-
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