Passing over the river, the next day we came to Green County, Illinois; and as the day drew to a close we began to circulate an appointment as we travelled along a thick settlement of thrifty farmers, for preaching in a school house in the neighborhood that evening.
As we sat by the highway side to rest ourselves, an old farmer rode past on horseback, and halted to ask if we were travellers. We replied that we were travelling to preach the gospel, and had an appointment that evening at the school house just ahead, and invited him to come and hear. "No," said he, "I have not attended a religious meeting this five years; I have long been disgusted and tired of priestcraft and religious ignorance and division, and have concluded to stand aloof from it all."
"Well, we are as much opposed to these things as you can be, and, therefore, have come to preach the gospel, and show the knowledge of God in its ancient purity, being instructed and sent of Him without purse or scrip. So come and hear us."
"O! indeed, if that is the case, I will."
So he came; the house was crowded with Baptists, Methodists, Universalists, Non-professors, Infidels, etc.
We preached. After meeting, a Baptist minister by the name of John Russell, a very learned and influential man, invited us to tarry in the neighborhood and continue to preach; he said his house should be our home, and he called a vote of the people whether they wished us to preach more. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative.
We tarried in the neighborhood some two months, and preached daily in all that region to vast multitudes, both in town and country, in the grove, and in school houses, barns and dwellings. All parties were our hearers and friends, and contributed liberally to our wants; and the old farmer, whose name was Calvin, who had not been to meeting before for five years, became a constant hearer, and opened his house for our home. He was very wealthy, and bade us welcome to shoes, clothing, or anything we needed; many Infidels, Universalists, etc., did the same.
In this neighborhood there lived a Baptist minister by the name of Dotson, who opposed us with much zeal, from time to time, both in public and in private, and from house to house.
He said the Book of Mormon was a fable; a silly, foolish mixture of matter, possessing no interest, and that he could write a better book himself. However, his principal objection was, that God could give no new revelation—the New Testament contained all the knowledge that God had in store for man, and there was nothing remaining unrevealed.
We asked him to open the New Testament and read to us the history and destiny of the American continent and its inhabitants, and the origin and lineage of the same; also, the history of the ten tribes of Israel, and where they now were. We also asked him to read to us from that book his own commission, and that of other ministers of this age to preach the gospel. But he could do none of these things; but still insisted that there was no subject worthy of new revelation, and that no revelation could be given.
Said I, "Mr. Dotson, relate to me your experience and call to the ministry."
"Well," he replied, "I will do so, seeing that it is you, friend Pratt; for you are able to bear it, and to comprehend something about it; but I have never told it to my own members; and I dare not, for they would not believe me."
"Well, Mr. Dotson, be particular on the manner and means by which you were called to the ministry."
"Why, sir," said he, "I was called by a vocal voice from Heaven."
"Well, Mr. Dotson, there is one exception to your general rule. We come to you with a new revelation, and you reject it, because there can be no new revelation; and yet you profess to have a new revelation, God having spoken from the heavens and called you, and commissioned you to preach eighteen hundred years after the New Testament was written, and all revelation finished! How is this?
"The New Testament no where calls you by name; neither makes mention of you as a minister of the gospel; but new revelation does, if we are to believe you. And yet you would teach your hearers and us, and all the world, to disbelieve all modern revelation merely because it is new. Consequently, we are all bound by your own rule to reject your call to the ministry, and to believe it is a lie."
He could say no more.
At another time he was at Mr. Russell's with us, and, in presence of Mr. R. and others, was opposing the Book of Mormon with all his power.
We asked him to listen while we read a chapter in it. He did so, and was melted into tears, and so affected and confounded that he could not utter a word for some time. He then, on recovering, asked us to his house, and opened the door for us to preach in his neighborhood. We did so, and were kindly entertained by him.
But after this, he again hardened his heart, and finding his opposition all in vain, he wrote a letter to the Rev. Mr. Peck, of Rock Spring, some sixty miles distant, informing him that the "Mormons" were about to take Green County, and requesting his immediate attendance.
This Mr. Peck was a man of note, as one of the early settlers of Illinois, and one of its first missionaries. He had labored for many years in that new country and in Missouri, and was now Editor of a paper devoted to Baptist principles.
This gentleman, was soon forthcoming, and commenced his public addresses among the people, to try to convince them of the great errors we had taught.
He said there were no antiquities in America; no ruined cities, buildings, monuments, inscriptions, mounds, or fortifications, to show the existence of such a people as the Book of Mormon described.
He also said, that there were no domestic animals such as the cow the ox, or the horse, found here when Europeans first discovered the country. He then inquired how these animals became extinct since the destruction of the Nephites.
He said further, that the fortifications and mounds of this country were nothing more than the works of Nature.
He then warned the people against the study of the prophetic parts of the Old and New Testaments, observing that these mysterious prophecies were directly calculated to lead them into delusion and bewilderment; that the best way to read and understand prophecy was, to read it backwards—that is to say, after it is fulfilled; that it was never designed to be understood before it came to pass.
He also taught that the Millennium was already commenced, and that Jesus Christ would not come, in person, till the great and last judgment; and that the Millennium must first continue a year for each day of the thousand years, spoken of by John the Revelator, etc.
A meeting was held for the purpose of replying to him; the people came out in great numbers.
I then replied in substance as follows:
"My hearers:—The Rev. Mr. Peck is a great man. He is a man of age and varied experience and learning. I am but a youth, inferior to him in all these respects. I reverence his gray hairs; I respect his learning; I admire his talents and ingenuity; and I feel a delicacy in replying to him; and nothing but a love for the truth and a hatred of error and falsehood, could induce me to come in contact with him before the public; but where truth and salvation are at stake I cannot shrink from duty, in consideration of age or talent; I cannot spare the man, even if he were my father.
"To do away the Book of Mormon, we are called upon to believe that the temples, statues, pyramids, sculptures, monuments, engravings, mounds and fortifications, now in ruins on the American continent, are all the works of Nature in her playful moments; that the bones of slumbering nations were never clothed upon with flesh, and that their sleeping dust was never animated with life.
"This is too monstrous; it is too marvelous, too miraculous for out credulity; we can never believe that these things are the works of Nature, unaided by human art; we are not so fond of the marvelous.
"Again, we are told that no cows or oxen were here when Europeans first came to the country. I would ask what the wild buffalo are, if they are not the cattle of the ancient inhabitants?