LEAVES FROM MY JOURNAL

^tember, and these were the first baptisms performed by proper
authority upon any of the islands of the sea (to my know-
ledge) in this dispensation.

Before we left Kirtland some of the leading apostates there
had tried to discourage Brother Hale about going upon his
mission, telling him he would never baptize any one, and he
had better remain at home. When Captain Eames offered
himself for baptism, I told Brother Hale to go and baptize
him, and prove those men false prophets, and he did so.

On the following Sabbath I baptized his brother, Ebenezer
Eames, another sea captain, and a young lady.

Mr. Newton, the Baptist minister, now commenced a war
against us, and sent to the South Island for a Mr. Douglass, a
Methodist minister (with whom he had been at variance for
years) to come over and help him put down "Mormonism."

Mr. Douglass came over, and they got as many people together
as they could and held a conference. He railed against
Joseph, the prophet, and the Book of Mormon, and, taking
that book in his hand, with out-stretched arm, declared that
he feared none of the judgments of God that would come upon
him for rejecting it as the word of God. (I never heard what
his sentiments upon this subject were at the end of his term of
fourteen years' imprisonment in the Thomaston Penitentiary,
for an outrage upon his daughter, the judgment of which
was given upon the testimony of his wife and daughter.)

I was present and heard Mr. Douglass' speech upon this
occasion and took minutes of the same. When he closed I
arose and informed the people that I would meet with them
next Sunday in the meeting-house, and answer Mr. Douglass,
and wished him as well as the people to be present.

I informed the people that Mr. Douglass had made many
false statements against Joseph Smith and the Latter-day
Saints, with whom he had no acquaintance, and he had mis-
quoted much scripture, all of which I could correct.

We continued to baptize the people on the North Island
until we had baptized every person who owned an interest in the
Baptist meeting-house. I then followed Mr. Douglass home
to the South Island and preached the gospel to and baptized
nearly all the members of his church.

LEAVES FROM MY JOURNAL

tember, and these were the first baptisms performed by proper authority upon any of the islands of the sea (to my knowledge) in this dispensation.

Before we left Kirtland some of the leading apostates there had tried to discourage Brother Hale about going upon his mission, telling him he would never baptize any one, and he had better remain at home. When Captain Eames offered himself for baptism, I told Brother Hale to go and baptize him, and prove those men false prophets, and he did so.

On the following Sabbath I baptized his brother, Ebenezer Eames, another sea captain, and a young lady.

Mr. Newton, the Baptist minister, now commenced a war against us, and sent to the South Island for a Mr. Douglass, a Methodist minister (with whom he had been at variance for years) to come over and help him put down "Mormonism."

Mr. Douglass came over, and they got as many people together as they could and held a conference. He railed against Joseph, the prophet, and the Book of Mormon, and, taking that book in his hand, with out-stretched arm, declared that he feared none of the judgments of God that would come upon him for rejecting it as the word of God. (I never heard what his sentiments upon this subject were at the end of his term of fourteen years' imprisonment in the Thomaston Penitentiary, for an outrage upon his daughter, the judgment of which was given upon the testimony of his wife and daughter.)

I was present and heard Mr. Douglass' speech upon this occasion and took minutes of the same. When he closed I arose and informed the people that I would meet with them next Sunday in the meeting-house, and answer Mr. Douglass, and wished him as well as the people to be present.

I informed the people that Mr. Douglass had made many false statements against Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints, with whom he had no acquaintance, and he had misquoted much scripture, all of which I could correct.

We continued to baptize the people on the North Island until we had baptized every person who owned an interest in the Baptist meeting-house. I then followed Mr. Douglass home to the South Island and preached the gospel to and baptized nearly all the members of his church.