An Example of the Folly of "Sign-Seeking" from Early Welsh Latter-day Saint History

Verily, I say unto you, there are those among you who seek signs, and there have been such even from the beginning; But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe. Yea, signs come by faith, not by the will of men, nor as they please, but by the will of God. Yea, signs come by faith, unto mighty works, for without faith no man pleaseth God; and with whom God is angry he is not well pleased; wherefore, unto such he showeth no signs, only in wrath unto their condemnation. Wherefore, I, the Lord, am not pleased with those among you who have sought after signs and wonders for faith, and not for the good of men unto my glory. (D&C 63:8-12)

The following discussion of an incident in early Welsh Latter-day Saint history is a great example of “sign-seeking” and how signs will only follow faith, will not produce “true”/”saving” faith, a vindication of D&C 63:8-12 (quoted above) and other like-texts (e.g., Matt 12:39; 16:4):

The Welsh Mormons’ claims of miracles being performed, as well as their assertion that theirs was the only true church of God, were disturbing to the Welsh nonconformists. To them, such claims were blasphemous, and they felt not merely justified but obliged to oppose and denounce the Mormons. In July 1846 Dan Jones recorded the incident of a young man who had a sore leg, from which twenty pieces of bone had been removed. For six months he had not been able to work without a crutch, at which time Elder Jones reported:

When he believed the gospel, I told him he would be healed if he would obey; he walked about a mile with crutches. By the river side we prayed that he might be enabled to dispense with his crutch, and he walked into the water [to be baptized] without it—out again, and home—and so far as I have heard has never used it since. I carried his crutch home through the toon on my back, the man telling them that he was healed, but strange to say they would neither believe him nor their own eyes, but cried out imposters, etc., and that he might have walked before!! although they knew better; but however, the man got a blessing, and when I left, the wounds in his leg were closing finely, and free from pain. (M[illennial]S[tar] 8:40.)

There is evidence that in Carmarthenshire a minister to prove the ‘fraud’ of Mormonism by setting up a blind man for baptism. According to Thomas Jeremy, a convert from that area in March 1846, the blind man was a ‘prepared Judas’ who had been encouraged by his friends to request baptism and restoration of his sight. Then, when the Mormons were unable to restore his sight, it would prove that they were frauds. Suspecting the plot, Elder Jones announced a public baptism—a departure from the normal procedure of quiet, private services. He later reported:

It was astonishing to see the crowds that came from the regions round about: both priest, preachers, persecutors, and people. Oh, what an opportunity that was to explain the whys and wherefores of Mormonism, sign seeking, etc. They all listened with the greatest attention for about two hours, although many had come on purpose to oppose, but I could not get a try out of any of them. I shewed them that our religion was true, whether the blind man got his sight or not: it was true before the blind man was heard of, that it would remain as true when he was dead and forgotten, and that it is eternally true, and I knew it. But after the baptism, while walking up to the house to be confirmed, it was amusing to hear the remarks as the crowd followed, crossing and re-crossing to peep at his eyes, to see whether his sight was restored; some said it was, some that he was blinder than before, and that was difficult. (MS 8:41.)

If it was true that the blind man was part of a plot to discredit the Church, it is also true that the plan backfired. For upon confirming him, Elders Dan Jones and Abel Evans anointed him and gave him a blessing, after which ‘he shouted for joy in the presence of all, and testified that while hands were on his head he could “see the candle in the candlestick on the table”; that he was more than satisfied’. (Ibid.)

But the story did not have a happy ending. Following his baptism the man, whose name was Daniel, attended only two Church meetings and then proceeded to malign the Church. One of his ‘backers’, according to Elder Jones, was the Rev. Josiah Thomas Jones, editor of Y Drysorfa Gynnulleidfaol (The Congregationalist Treasury), and one of the results of Daniel’s faithfulness was a vicious 12-page pamphlet, the publication of an interview between Daniel and the Rev. Josiah Thomas Jones. An eight-stanza poem at the beginning of the pamphlet stated Daniel’s position and his obligation. Here is a translation of the last stanza:

Now I must testify
That the Saints do but deceive
If you buy this, you shall have the complete story
Of the way in which I was charmed.

In characteristic fashion, Elder Jones responded with a pamphlet of his own, entitled, ‘Haman’ yn hongian a rei grogbren ei hun! (‘Haman’ hanging from his own gallows). Not long afterwards, Thomas Jeremy and Dan Jones were on their way back to Llanybydder when they had a chance meeting with Daniel on the road. Elder Jones asked him why he had become such a persecutor of the saints, and Daniel offered not a single reason in answer but only made it plain that he chose to remain an enemy. Brother Jeremy later wrote:

Capt. Jones told him that if he continued to persecute and malign the Saints the hand of God would be upon him and his fate would be hotter than that of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram [the three who were swallowed up in the earth for opposing Moses]. He sternly told him the danger of persecuting and maligning the people of the Lord . . . [Afterwards] Daniel was stricken with a severe illness which caused him to feel his bowels igniting within him. He drank large quantities of water to extinguish the supposed fire from within, and also he would rush outside to immerse himself in water to cool down; but all was in vain. He died in this painful condition.  (Prophwyd 3:171.)

In spite of such opposition, the Church in Wales continued to grow. It was about this time, in fact, that a particular Welsh family joined the Church under rather unusual circumstances—a family that would later furnish the first conductor of what would become the Salt Lake Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (Ronald D. Dennis, “The Welsh and the Gospel” in V. Ben Bloxham, James R. Moss, and Larry C. Porter, eds. Truth Will Prevail: The Rise of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the British Isles, 1837-1987 [Cambridge: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1987], 236-67, here, pp. 252-54)