Autobiography 1858 Deseret News
On the , I went to a Baptist meeting
house, on Thompson's creek, to preach; the
house was crowded. As I rose to speak, a
Baptist priest, Mr. Browning, arrived at the
door on horseback, and stepped in greatly agi-
tated, and told the deacon to forbid my preach-
ing in the house; at the same time commenced
a tirade of abuse against the Mormons, telling
several lies, which I corrected before the peo-
ple, which increased his rage. As I was for-
bidden to preach in the house, and had been
invited, and traveled many miles to fulfil my
appointment, I told the people I would like to
preach and was willing to stand on a wood
pile, a fence, a cart, or any place they would
appoint. A man rose and said he owned the
land in front of the meeting house, and I might
[Column 3]
stand and preach on that, and welcome. All
the congregation, with the exception of the
minister and one deacon, arose and left the
house, walked across the street and formed
seats of a worm fence, and gave good attention
while I preached for an hour and a half on the
principles of the gospel.
When I closed, Mr. Randolph Alexander,
who had never heard a Mormon Elder speak
before, said, the people of the present day
made him think of a pen of hogs; the keeper
would make a trough, and pour into it hot or
cold water, dish water or anything else, and
they would drink it; but let a stranger come
along and pour over a basket of corn on the
back side of the pen, and the hogs would be
frightened and run and snort all over the pen.
He said it was so with the people; the priests
would feed them with any kind of doctrine,
no matter how false, the people will swallow
it down, but let a stranger come and preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ, which will save
the people, as Mr. Woodruff has done, and the
people are afraid of him.
Mr. Alexander invited me home, bought a
Book of Mormon, and was soon baptized, and
several others followed his example.
