VISIT TO A BAPTIST MEETING—ABUSE OF THE VARIOUS CHURCHES, ESPECIALLY THE "MORMONS"—BOASTED BIBLE-NAME AND RELIGION—RETURN TO THE TEXT—THE "HARD-SHELL" WAIL—REPLY TO THE FALSE ASSERTIONS—THEIR "BIBLE-NAME" DISPROVED—THE TRUE SCRIPTURE NAME POINTED OUT.

While Brother H. K. Coray and I were laboring as missionaries in North Carolina, we attended a Baptist meeting, rather on his account than mine, as he had never been to such a meeting.

It was on Saturday, and the meeting was held in a bowery in the edge of a wood, in Stokes County.

Shortly after our arrival, the meeting was opened in the usual way, by the minister, the Rev. Mr. Mourning, the leading preacher of that denomination. He arose and read his text from the Song of Solomon, 8th chapter and 8th verse: "We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts," etc., after which, the preacher launched out in a discourse made up from abuse and slander of other denominations.

First he commenced a tirade against the Methodists, by saying:

"There is the Methodist church; I do not read in the Bible of the Methodist church; therefore, that church cannot be the true church. Neither do I read of the Presbyterian church; it is, therefore, not God's church. Nor do I read anything in the good book about the Lutheran church; nor does the scriptures say anything about the Campbellite church, nor the Catholic church, nor the Quaker church."

Thus he went on, mentioning all the leading sects of the present day, saying none of these could possibly be the true church, because the Bible was silent as to their names.

He seemed to take some pains to save the "Mormons" till the last, so as to be thoroughly warmed up, that he might be the better able to do justice to their case.

After awhile, getting all the steam on—mustering all his force, he opened his battery upon the "Mormon" Church, saying the "Mormon" Church was not mentioned anywhere in the scriptures, nor the "Mormon" religion; neither the "Mormon Bible," nor "Joe" Smith, nor Brigham Young, not even the word "Mormon" was mentioned there.

He finished up his abuse of the "Mormons" by saying they were the most dangerous, and altogether the worst of the whole bad lot.

"But," said he, referring to the Baptist church, "ours is the Primitive Baptist church—a Bible name. Ours is a Bible church, a Bible religion," etc.

"Sometimes," he added, "we are called 'Iron Jackets,' sometimes, 'Hard Shells,' but these are nicknames. Our true Bible name is 'Primitive Baptists.'"

By this time he had been talking an hour, and had not once referred to the text. But having apparently satisfied himself and a few of his hearers in abusing other denominations in general, and the "Mormons" in particular, he suddenly assumed the old "Hard Shell" wail, or preaching tune, and drawled out:

"But my dear friends and breethring-ah, we have a little sister-ah, and she hath no breasts-ah. I am very much afraid, my dear friends and breethring-ah, that in that great day when we shall be spoken for-ah, that some of us will be brought into that awful presence-ah, and there find we have no breasts-ah. And oh, my dear friends and breethring-ah, will not this be an awful condition to be found in-ah?"

Honestly, this is no exaggeration! Thus he held forth for an hour longer, expressing no two sentences without the phrase, "my dear friends and breethring-ah," being sandwiched in between.

I am very sorry I cannot give my readers the music, for it would be a rich treat.

As he was about to close the meeting, I asked for permission to speak for a few minutes.

"Not," said he, "till we dismiss our meeting; then if the people wish to hear you I have no objection."

When he had dismissed his meeting, all the congregation sat down again, thus giving me to understand they wished me to talk to them.

I commenced by stating to the audience that I wished to correct some mistakes made by Mr. Mourning, relative to the name of the Church to which I belonged. We were called the "Mormon" Church, which was a nickname given us by our enemies, the true and legal name being, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; also that there could be no other appropriate name for Christ's church. Churches that are not His, should always be called by some other name than His, illustrating to them that the church of Christ was never called by any man's name. Christ's church in the days of Noah was not called Noah's church. Neither was His church called the church of Abraham in his day, nor the church of Moses when Moses lived. Nor was it ever called the church of John the Baptist in the day that he was upon the earth. I closed by saying that I never in the Bible had read anything about a "Primitive Baptist church."

In the absence of anything better to say, he asked me if I did not like John the Baptist.

I answered "Yes," and that he was called the Baptist because he had baptized the people in all Judea and Jerusalem, and the region round about Jordan, as Mr. Cloud (referring to a man that sat near me) had made shoes for all the people near where he lived, and on that account was called a shoemaker, but it did not follow that those for whom he had made the shoes were also called shoemakers.

I requested him, if there was any evidence in the scriptures to establish the Bible name of his church, to open his Bible and read it to the people.

This he could not do, for the simple reason that there was no such evidence in the Bible. Nor do I believe that this great Baptist minister ever knew, till I brought this fact to his notice, that there was no evidence in the scriptures to establish a "Baptist" church. And the members of his church seemed to be disappointed and utterly astonished that he was unable to produce the proofs asked for.

To prove that ours was a scriptural name, I referred to, and quoted Matt. xvi. 18; Col. i. 18; Acts xx. 28; I. Cor. xiv. 33, and other passages.

When I concluded my remarks, a large number of the assemblage gathered about me, that is, the portion that were not Baptists, manifesting towards me in various ways their good feelings. They were like their prototypes, the Pharisees and Sadducees of old.

When the Savior overthrew some pet dogma of the Pharisees, as He often did, the Sadducees would gather about Him, feeling very much elated; and when He, in like manner, demolished some tenet of the Sadducees, as very often happened, then the Pharisees rejoiced. But in the end all the parties united against the Savior.

So it is in these days. The only thing in which the sects of this day are united, is in their opposition to and persecution of the Saints—the true followers of Christ.