Sunday, July 30, 2023

Welsh Anti-Mormon David Williams (Protestant) Admitting that None of the Protestant Groups Do Not "have the gospel doctrine in its purity" (1846)

 In a tract by David Williams, Twyll y Seintiau Diweddaf yn cael ei ddynoethi, mewn nodiadau byr ar draethawd a ysgrifenwyd yn ddiweddar gan Capt. D. Jones, dan yr enw, “Traethawd ar Anghyfnewidioldeb Teyrnas Dduw,” etc (English: Deception of the Latter Saints Exposed in Brief Notes on a Treatise Written Recently by Capt. D. Jones, Under the Title, “Treatise Showing the Immutability of the Kingdom of God,” etc.), 2d ed. (Merthyr: David Jones, 1846), we read the following startling admission on p. 12:

 

He also considers the sects and denominations of this age to be so different from the kingdom of God, that he considers it a wonder among those who take notice of them, that any Welshman could be so blind as to be mistaken in that matter.

 

Allow me to say, good man, that we do not think that all the different sects throughout the world have the gospel doctrine in its purity, nor do we hold the traditions exactly according to the plan of the early churches; and we freely admit that the best of us is open to failings, weaknesses and mistakes; . . . (On Trial in the Welsh Press: Latter-day Saint Missionaries Declare and Defend the Faith, 1840-1860, ed. Ronald D. Dennis [Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 2023], 518)

 

In the same work (pp. 23-24):

 

Baptism for the forgiveness of sins is extensively mentioned by our author. There is no doubt that the forgiveness has been connected with the truth faith, along with repentance and forgiveness; yet men can be baptized, and then be lost—remember Simon Magus.

 

Baptism is not absolutely essential for salvation; if it were otherwise, the thief on the cross would not have been saved. Avoid putting baptism in place of the blood of Christ, which was shed for the forgiveness of sins—“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Without the spilling of this blood, there was no forgiveness: baptism can signify our cleansing, but it is the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, which cleanses us from all sin. (Ibid., 529-30)

 

This allows me to share the following video from Lutheran Satire: