Christian Standard – February 4, 1905

How the Scales Fell From My Eyes.

D. H. Bays.

It is with pleasure that I undertake to tell the two hundred and fifty thousand readers of the Christian Standard, what I surrendered for "the creed that needs no revision," and to recount the steps by which I was "led out of bondage" to human creeds into the full light of the gospel.

The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" is but one of the many phases that Mormonism has assumed since the death of its founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., in June, 1844. With the exception of polygamy, the right of presidency, and a few other matters of minor consideration, the doctrines of Mormonism are everywhere essentially the same. It is but just to say, in this connection, that, that the people of the Reorganized Church are sincere in their protestations against both the doctrine and practice of "plural marriage," but I can not say so much for the sincerity of their claim respecting its origin, and their prophet's relation to the system, for he was certainly the author of polygamy, and practiced what he preached.

In order to a correct understanding as to what I surrendered for the simple New Testament plea, it will be necessary to state categorically what I was, from early childhood, taught to believe. Here is the list:

1. That Joseph Smith, Jr., was a prophet of God.

2. The Book of Mormon, a revelation from God, fully inspired, and of equal authority with the Bible, if not a little superior.

3. The Book of Doctrine and Covenants, a book of pretended revelations from God through Joseph Smith, for the government of the church, an inspired discipline.

4. The "Inspired Translation," a pretended translation of the Old and New Testament Scriptures by Joseph Smith, Jr.

All of these "standard works of the church" I gave up for the world's only book of life -- The Bible, the only divinely authorized standard for the government and salvation of men -- heaven's only book of discipline.

Passing from the standard books of the church to a consideration of its doctrines, Mormonism teaches:

1. That the church established by Christ at Jerusalem, on the first day of Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus, was utterly destroyed in the great Roman apostacy -- not a vestige of it remained.

2. That, in consequence of this apostacy, God had abrogated all authority to preach the gospel and administer its ordinances.

3. That, in order to restore this lost authority, there must be a new revelation from heaven.

4. That this long lost authority was restored through the ministration of heavenly angels, who laid their hands on Joseph Smith's head and ordained him to the gospel ministry.

5. That these divine messengers were none other than the apostles Peter, James and John (D. & C., p. 112, par. 5).

6. That no man has authority to preach or baptize, or in any other way minister for Christ, "except he be ordained by some one who hath authority, * * * and has been regularly ordained by the heads of the church" (D. &C., p. 142, par. 4.)

7. That Christ had no church, no people on the earth, from 570 A. D., when all authority was taken from the earth , till Apr. 6, 1830, when the authority was restored, and the church organized by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

8. That, in view of these facts, the Church of Latter-day Saints is "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth" (D. &. C., p. 65, par. 5.)

9. That this church, with its restored authority and inspired priesthood, is in full possession of all miraculous gifts and supernatural powers of the apostolic church.

10. That the church has inspired apostles and prophets who are endowed with power to heal the sick, cast out devils, speak in unknown tongues, give sight to the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf.

All these things, and many others, they claim actually to perform; and it matters not how corrupt the church, or how utterly depraved its priesthood, each and every Mormon organization calling itself the only "true and living church," claims to possess all these marvelous powers to the exclusion of all others. The ungodly Brighamites, the unscrupulous and thieving Strangites, the unholy "Lymanites," together with the more sedate and tolerable "Josephites," all claim the power to work miracles.

Added to all these peculiarities of faith and doctrine, the Saints also teach:

1. The gathering of the faithful to Independence, Mo., the place of the New Jerusalem, where a magnificent temple is to be built, and that Jesus will "suddenly come to his temple," and deliver his people from the power of their enemies, the unholy Gentiles.

2. They also teach "the law of tithing."

3. Blessing little children by laying on of hands.

4. The washing of feet.

5. The baptism of the living for the dead.

All of these things the Latter-day Saints teach, and all these things, absurd and unscriptural as they now seem, I was from my earliest childhood taught to believe came directly from God through his prophet.

Frequently the question has been asked, "How can a man with ordinary common sense, be made to believe such stuff?" The answer is easy. A cursory view of the religious world as it exists to-day, both Christian and heathen, together with a moment's serious reflection as to the incomprehensibility of psychological law, will be quite sufficient to show that man is so constituted that he may be taught to believe anything, it matters not how absurd, if only his training is begun sufficiently early in life.

When only about seven years of age, my parents, who at the time were members of the M. E. Church, South, were induced to accept the Mormon faith, and from that time till I reached manhood's estate, I had been taught all the foregoing tenets of the Mormon Church. And so thoroughly were these principles instilled into my childish mind that, at a very early age, they had become almost a part of my being. So firmly had these tenets become fixed in my mind, that no question or doubt as to their genuineness ever entered my mind.

When my parents first heard Mormonism expounded, polygamy was carefully kept in the background. Nothing but "the first principles of the gospel" were taught. They knew nothing of its existence till they had "gathered" to "the camp" -- as the Mormon settlement was called -- in the mountain fastness of western Texas. Mormonism, in its first aspect, seemed altogether innocent; but, upon a closer examination, as it existed in the "camp" of the Saints, it was anything but attractive. Here they found the leader, Lyman Wight, one of Joseph Smith's trusted apostles, a drunken old reprobate, living openly with four wives under the same roof, to say nothing of a number of concubines.

When the real condition of things was made known to them, my parents "bolted" the whole Mormon ticket, and began to make preparations to leave "the camp of the Saints" and "the beloved city" of "Zodiac," as the Mormon village was called, thoroughly disgusted with that particular brand of Latter-Day Saintism. It finally developed that a general dissatisfaction prevailed in the camp; for, when we broke away from the "company," something like a dozen families joined our ranks, and went with us to Corpus Christi, on the Gulf Coast, in southern Texas.

In this venture the family was financially ruined. After a few years of uncertainty and doubt, during which our finances had very materially improved, other missionaries, representing another phase of Mormon delusion, found us out, and came to "gather up the lost sheep" of the Mormon fold. They represented what they were pleased to call "the kingdom of God," under the leadership of one James J. Strang, of Beaver Island, Mich., who claimed to be the true successor of "the prophet Joseph."

Still clinging to the belief that Joseph Smith was in reality a prophet of God, and convinced that it was their duty to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and having accepted the "testimony" of his emissaries that "King James," as Strang was called, was the right man in the right place, preparations were at once made for the long, tedious overland journey to Beaver Island.

The large farm and other valuable holdings having been sold for whatever they would bring in spot cash, my deluded father started on "the wild goose chase" of his life. From our comfortable home, near McGlone's Bluffs, the banks of Corpus Christi Bay, in southern Texas, we started for "the kingdom of God" (?!) by the overland route. Now a lad of fourteen, I was placed in charge of a huge Texas wagon, drawn by four yoke of long-horned Texas steers. This attractive outfit I drove every square inch of the road between McGlone's Bluffs to Joliet, Ill., and only for the fact that the broad expanse of Lake Michigan intervened, I should have driven those festive long-horns bodily into "the kingdom." During this entire journey of some 1,400 miles, and covering a period of more than six months, not a member of the family, not even my mother -- ever sat at a table for a meal or slept beneath the shelter of a friendly roof. Tent and covered wagon constituted our only shelter -- our only home. In company with several other families, we reached our destination late in October, and were soon settled for the long, dreary Michigan winter.

At last we were among the Saints (!!) and in "the kingdom" -- but, oh, what a kingdom! Instead of the purity and common honesty which we had reason to expect among a people who made such remarkable claims, we found, with a few honorable exceptions, a veritable "den of thieves." King Strang, like his Texas compeer, was living with four wives beneath the same roof, and: his "household" was supported from the tithes of goods stolen from their Gentile neighbors on the shores of Lake Michigan. In short, a more reckless and unscrupulous band of thieves and robbers were never assembled on so many square miles of American soil.

Robbery, theft, and even murder, was carried on to such an extent that forbearance ceased to be a "virtue" and the people on the main land finally took matters into their own hands, and drove the last Mormon from the island.

In the meantime, dissension had arisen among themselves, and two of their own number shot their king, inflicting wounds from which he died a few weeks later. The removal of Strang from his island home to Voree, Wis., was the signal for a general stampede of the leaders, and the expulsion of the rank and file by the mob which soon followed, proved to be the death-blow of the Strangite kingdom.

Disgusted with the lawlessness and abominations of Strangism, my father returned to Texas, to collect funds with which he might remove his family from such unholy surroundings, and was absent at the time of the expulsion. Being the eldest son, the care of a large family now devolved upon my untrained shoulders.

Upon my father's return, he experienced great difficulty in locating his now impoverished family, but finally located them near Racine, Wis., distressedly poor, but, fortunately, all alive and comparatively well.

With shaken faith and shattered hopes in all things Mormon' and with faces to the westward, my parents at length found themselves on a farm in western Iowa.

REORGANIZED  MISSIONARIES.

Here, in the early sixties, we were brought face to face with still another phase of Mormonism. This time it was the Reorganized Church, then called the "New Organization." These "Reorganized" missionaries were looking up such Latter-day Saints as had refused, on account of the corrupt practices, to follow the fortunes of Brigham Young, Lyman Wight, James J. Strang, and others.

By this time I had reached an age that enabled me to do a little thinking for myself, so that when the missionaries approached me, I could state my reasons for wishing to have nothing more to do with Mormonism. I frankly expressed my conviction that no system of religion could possibly be of God which included among its tenets the doctrine and practice of polygamy, theft and other evils and manifold abominations, such as Mormonism had developed in such an incredibly short period of time.

These objections were met by the declaration that none of these things were a part of original Mormonism -- that they were all renovations introduced by wicked men; that the prophet was not the author of these wicked practices, and never approved them; that, as a matter of fact, they had been introduced by Brigham Young and others after the death of the prophet and patriarch at Nauvoo, Ill. Indeed, God had rejected "the old church" because of these very things, and thus rendering a reorganization of the church an absolute necessity.

Convinced of these things, our entire family were now baptized into the Reorganized Church. This time, we felt sure we were on the right track. At least we had not been deceived as to the moral status of the church -- it sanctioned none of these grossly wicked things.

In due time, I was called to the ministry, and was regularly "ordained by the heads of the church," and began to preach the gospel of the "Reorganized Church." Filled with zeal for the cause I loved, no trial was too severe and no sacrifice too great. Willing to endure any and every hardship for the salvation of souls, I soon found myself in the front rank of the active, working forces of the church, sharing, as I then believed -- and which I have to this day no reason to doubt -- the fullest confidence of my fellow-ministers.

MY  FIRST  DISAPPOINTMENT.

When I first became acquainted with the people of the Reorganized Church, I attended their preaching services quite regularly, and greatly to my surprise they had what they called the "gifts of the gospel." At nearly every meeting some one would speak in an "unknown tongue." Of course nobody understood it, and in order to be duly "edified," some one had to "give the interpretation of the tongue, which usually followed immediately upon the first speaker having resumed his seat. The next moment another would spring to his feet, and in a state of extreme mental excitement, deliver a frenzied, pointless prophecy. Not infrequently have I known a half-dozen or more people to exercise themselves in this remarkable manner during the course of a single evening.

These things profoundly impressed me, and believing these "manifestations of the Spirit" to be genuine, and the people honest, I cast in my lot with the Saints of the Reorganized Church, and gave the cause my hearty support.

Soon after entering the ministry, I found myself up against what to me was a very serious proposition. In their "social meetings." the preachers, the people, and even the little boys and girls, would "testify" that they knew the work was of God -- they knew it by the Spirit, and no guesswork about it. They knew it was true, for God was now "confirming the word with signs following" (Mark xvi. 20) in these "gifts." I finally determined that, if these things were among the things knowable, I must know them for myself. I was assured that these "spiritual gifts" were attainable through fasting and prayer. Although engaged in helping my father to harvest his wheat crop, I began to fast with the determination to continue till I had secured the coveted blessing. Like Daniel, with my face turned toward Jerusalem, I prayed morning, noon and night. Surely the Lord would hear my prayers, and bestow upon my waiting soul "some spiritual gift." If only I could speak in an unknown tongue, or, still better, could I see the sick healed by the laying on of my hands, then I would know. But, alas! none of these things were for me.

I thus continued my fasting and prayer till the morning of the third day, when, from sheer exhaustion, I was compelled to desist. This was a sore disappointment to me. I confided the matter to the minister. What was the matter? "These signs shall follow them that believe." I believe; why do not the signs follow? Why does not the Lord "confirm the word" to me?

Ah! now I have it -- the Lord is just trying my faith. When sufficiently tried, the blessing would be received; so said my friends, and so I was led to believe. It was my own fault -- the lack of faith, perhaps -- and why should I question the Lord's promises. Reasoning thus, I took up my cross and followed on.

During my ministry, covering a period of twenty-seven years -- the best years of my life -- I defended the faith of my church in twenty-three public debates of more or less importance, and my friends did me the honor to say that I came out of them all without a scar. And just here I am reminded that a word of explanation is demanded, lest I be misunderstood. It is this:

My friends believed, and I cheerfully took the same view of the case, that my conceded victories over men whose scholarship and native mental endowments were far superior to my own, were very largely, if not entirely, due to the fact that I had the simple, gospel truth on my side. This, to me, was the most reasonable solution of the question that could be offered, and so my faith grew stronger. Not only was this very comforting, but it also confirmed me in the belief that what the world called Mormonism could not be proved false. But I have long since learned that this conclusion was fundamentally wrong. The exact truth of the matter is simply this: My opponents were not "onto their job," as, the expressive slang phrase has it. In all my experience I had never met a man who had made a study of Mormonism -- a man who really understood it. Had my opponents made themselves thoroughly acquainted with Mormon doctrines and methods, as they are understood to-day by many of our ministers, many a boasted victory would have been turned into positive defeat, and many a soul would have been saved from the delusive snares of Mormon theology.