FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER.

THIRD SERIES.

VOL. I.	BETHANY, VA. JANUARY, 1844.	NO. I.

From the Evangelist.      

"MORMONISM--The Means by which it stole the True Gospel.

      "IT is well known that the Mormons preach the true gospel and plead for immediate obedience to it on the part of the hearers, as the advocates of original Christianity do. This was not on original measure of Mormonism; for, indeed, baptism for the remission of sins is a phrase not found in their book. A few of their leaders took it from Rigdon, at Euclid, on the Western Reserve, as may be learned from brother Jones' account of their first visit to Kirtland, published in a preceding volume of the Evangelist Rigdon, we were perfectly aware, had possessed himself of our analysis of the gospel and the plea for obedience raised thereupon; but not choosing to rely on my own recollection of the means by, and the times at, which they were imparted to him, we wrote to Mr. Bently, who is his brother-in-law, for the necessary information. Mr. Bently's letter shows not only whence he received his knowledge of the true gospel; but also that, coward that he was, he had not the independence necessary to preach it in his own vicinity after he had received it. Thus the knowledge of ordering and pleading the elements of the true gospel by that people, is seen to arise near the same time and from the same source as that of our own reformation. Mr. Bently's letter is as follows:--

"SOLON, January 22, 1841.      

      "Dear Brother Scott--Your favor of the 7th December is received. I returned from Philadelphia, Pa., on the 10th, and the answer to your acceptable letter has been deferred. I was much gratified to hear from you and family, but would be much more so to see you once more in the flesh, and talk over our toils and anxieties in the cause of our blest Redeemer.

      You request that I should give you all the information I am in possession of respecting Mormonism. I know that Sydney Rigdon told me there was a book coming out (the manuscript of which had been [38] found engraved on gold plates) as much as two years before the Mormon book made its appearance in this country or had been heard of by me. The same I communicated to brother A. Campbell. The Mormon book has nothing of baptism for the remission of sins in it; and of course at the time Rigdon got Solomon Spaulding's manuscript he did not understand the scriptures on that subject.¹ I cannot say he learnt it from me, as he had been about a week with you in Nelson and Windham, before he came to my house. I, however, returned with him to Mentor. He stated to me that he did not feel himself capable of introducing the subject in Mentor, and would not return without me if he had to stay two weeks with us to induce me to go. This is about all I can say. I have no doubt but the account given in Mormonism Unmasked, is about the truth. It was got up to deceive the people and obtain their property, and was a wicked contrivance with Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith, Jr. May God have mercy on the wicked men, and may they repent of this their wickedness!

      May the Lord bless you, brother Scott, and family! Mrs. Bentley is much out of health, and I fear will never be better.

Yours most affectionately,

ADAMSON BENTLEY.

      Brethren Scott and Bentley are both mistaken as to the fact of baptism for the remission of sins not having been found in the Book of Mormon; and one of them in the inference contained in the note appended to Elder Bentley's letter.

      The conversation alluded to in brother Bentley's letter of 1841, was in my presence as well as in his, and my recollection of it led me some two or three years ago to interrogate brother Bentley touching his recollections of it, which accord with mine in every particular, except the year in which it occurred--he placing it in the summer of 1827--I, in the summer of 1826--Rigdon at the time observing that in the plates dug up in New York there was an account not only of the Aborigines of this country; but also it was stated that the Christian religion had been preached in this country during the first century just as we were preaching it on the Western Reserve. Now as the Book of Mormon was being manufactured at that time, for the copy-right was taken out in June, 1829, two years according to Elder Bentley, and three years according to me, after said conversation, (and certainly it was not less than two years,) the inference of brother Scott touching the person upon whom the theft was committed would be plausible, if it was a fact that baptism for remission of sins is no part of the Book, but something superadded since from the practice in Ohio in the end of [39] 1827 and beginning of 1828, a year or more after Rigdon made the aforesaid statement.

      But the truth of this inference depends upon the fact whether baptism as aforesaid is found in the Book of Mormon, or was, as he imagines, borrowed in 1830 from some of our brethren on the Reserve. Baptism for remission is, however, taught in the Book of Mormon, and therefore, according to his own reasoning, the inference is wholly an imagination. It is found variously and frequently stated in the Book of Mormon. On page 479 it is expressed in the following words:--"Blessed are they which shall believe in your words, and be baptized: for they shall be visited with fire and the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins." Again, p. 581. "Baptism is unto repentance for the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins." Again, p. 582. "The first point of repentance is baptism, and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling of the commandment, and the fulfilling of the commandment is unto the remission of sins." Indeed, as early as page 240 it is plainly taught in the form of a precept--"Come and be baptized unto repentance, that you may be washed from your sins." Certainly this is testimony enough, without farther readings.

      The note on the text of brother Bentley's letter shows how easily men may reason wrong from false facts, or from assumed premises. If the Editor of the Evangelist were not above the imputation of ambition, envy, jealousy, or vanity, the whole affair might be construed disadvantageously. But as it is, it seems to show the necessity of a scrupulous examination of the premises before we presume on such grave conclusions.

      Men remember what they hear, as well as what they see. Again, if men are said to "steal" what they see, may they not be said to "steal" what they hear? And if nothing short of seeing an action performed could explain this mystery, how comes the good Baptist Taylor to insert in his history of churches in Kentucky, writing about the time of the aforesaid conversation, the same views on this subject which are contained in the Book of Mormon? It is, therefore, no disparagement of these views of baptism that they are found in the Book of Mormon, more than that they are found in Taylor's History of Ten Baptist Churches in Kentucky, published three years before the Book of Mormon. But that Sidney Rigdon had a hand in the manufacture of the religious part of the Book of Mormon is clearly established from this fact, and from other expressions in that book, as certainly "stolen" from our brethren as that he once was amongst them. Our brother of the Evangelist seems on other occasions, as well as this, to draw [40] conclusions equally false, and as apparently invidious, as will appear from another article from the September Evangelist, to which my attention has been specially called:--

"BAPTISM.

      "Baptism is for the remission of sins. And when the current plea for obedience was introduced the rite was publicly administered for 'the remission of sins,' the baptizer saying audibly, 'For the remission of your sins I baptize you,' &c. Was not this enough?² Is it necessary to harp forever on this ordinance as if it were the grand essential? Is baptism the alpha and the omega of reformation?

      Some persons seem to have hanged their immortality with posterity upon baptism for remission.³ We have at present no less than three debates on the subject announced; one already in progress, and two in contemplation.

      But what has all this talking, writing, and debating done for the cause?⁴ There are several things which it has done. First, it has turned the minds of the brethren very generally outward upon the ordinance, instead of inward upon faith and penitence. Secondly, it has made them very lightly esteem the most evangelical faith and unfeigned repentance in others who do not understand the ordinance as we do. Thirdly, it has made very wrong impressions upon the public mind in relation to our views of the comparative value of gospel truth, for the world both see and feel that in the discourses of many of our evangelists, "Christ and him crucified"--the pains, and groans, and tears of Calvary--are made to give way to a silly and irreverent oratory on baptism, its adjuncts, or its corruptions. So that while many persons among us speak and write about baptism for the remission of sins, they have not a syllable to utter concerning a crucified Redeemer. This is a fatal mistake. Finally, this eternal talk about baptism for remission by our more eminent brethren, encourages those among us of no character (and we have thousands such) to argue for baptism, when all the world knows that they have themselves dishonored their baptism."⁵ [41]

A. C.      

[The Millennial Harbinger, Third Series, 1 (January 1844): 38-42.]

      Alexander Campbell's "Mistakes Touching the Book of Mormon" was first published in The Millennial Harbinger, Third Series, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1844. The electronic version of the essay has been produced from the College Press reprint (1976) of The Millennial Harbinger, ed. Alexander Campbell (Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1844), pp. 38-42.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. In the printed text, footnotes are indicated by printer's devices (asterisks, daggers, etc.); in the electronic text, they are treated as sequentially numbered endnotes.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 29 December 1999.
Updated 7 July 2003.