On 25 May 1842, member wrote from , Michigan, to JS in , Illinois, updating him on the state of the church in and around Canton and reporting on his proselytizing efforts. Sirrine had left in 1838 to preach in southeastern , where he organized a . By 1840, he was still living in Michigan with his wife, Mariah Wheeler, and three children. In 1841, Sirrine presided over a church in Michigan. As indicated in this May 1842 letter, he relocated with his family to , Illinois, sometime between June 1841 and February 1842, after which he returned to Michigan to proselytize.
In the letter featured here, ’s proselytizing report focused on a public debate he had recently had with a Methodist minister. Sirrine’s letter was published in the 1 July 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons and was one of several letters reporting on missionary work that JS, during his tenure as editor, published in the church newspaper. The original letter from Sirrine is apparently not extant.
Sirrine had previously debated a Baptist, a Methodist, and two Universalist ministers in January 1840. (Mephibosheth Sirrine, [Washtenaw Co., MI], 8 Feb. 1840, Letter to the Editors, Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:73–74.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
their followers crying delusion, false prophets, Mormonism &c., but the honest in heart were believing the gospel of Christ, and began to say to the ministers, why dont you come out and meet them in a fair open discussion and prove them false, and then we shall be satisfied; so one of their noble champions by the name of C. Davy, a Methodist minister, challenged us for a discussion on the subject of the Book of Mormon, and said that he could prove it false from the writings contained therein and the scriptures. I accepted the challenge, the time was then appointed that the discussion should commence, which was Monday the 23d of May at 10 o’clock A. M. in the town of Royal Oak, Oakland co., great excitement prevailed amongst the people, and at the appointed time, there was an assembly of between 400, and 500 people: the question for discussion was to prove the Book of Mormon to be of divine origin, and that it came forth, according to the predictions of the prophets—decision to be given according to the weight of argument advanced, the limited time for each to speak was 20 minutes at a time. We each of us chose a man, and they chose the third, who were to sit as judges: the congregation was then called to order, and I opened the discussion. We then spoke three times on each side, there was given an intermission of half an hour, we then continued the discussion and spoke four times each and then submitted the question for decision, the judges then gave the decision in favor of the Book of Mormon; the congregation was then dismissed and I heard many of the Methodists say they wanted no more to do with Methodism, and many others that came that morning expecting to hear the Book proved false and Mormonism fall to rise no more because their teachers had thus flattered them it would be the case, but they had to return to their homes in despair, and their priests quit the field with shame and anguish of heart, because they had not gained their points, and thus the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands, rolls forth propelled by the power of Israel’s God and will continue to roll until it becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth. Therefore I desire the prayers of all the Saints, that I may be upheld by the arm of Jehovah, and sustained through all the trials of subsequent life.
A later history of Oakland County named “Mr. Davy, a local preacher” as one of the first members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. (Durant and Peirce, History of Oakland County, Michigan, 290.)
Durant, Samuel W., and H. B. Peirce. History of Oakland County, Michigan. With Illustrations Descriptive of Its Scenery, Palatial Residences, Public Buildings, Fine Blocks, and Important Manufactories, from Original Sketches by Artists of the Highest Ability. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1877.
During this period, when oratory was central to the promulgation of ideas, Latter-day Saint elders, like other Christian missionaries, often gave public lectures and engaged in public debates as part of their proselytizing efforts. (See, for example, Letter from Eli Maginn, 1 and 3 May 1842. For more on nineteenth-century oratory, see Clark and Halloran, Oratorical Culture in Nineteenth-Century America, 1–26; and Ljungquist, “Lectures and the Lyceum Movement,” 330–347.)
Clark, Gregory, and S. Michael Halloran, eds. Oratorical Culture in Nineteenth-Century America: Transformations in the Theory and Practice of Rhetoric. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993.
Ljungquist, Kent P. “Lectures and the Lyceum Movement.” In Oxford Handbook of Transcendentalism, edited by Joel Myerson, Sandra Harbert Petrulionis, and Laura Dassow Walls, 330–347. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Royal Oak Township, located about ten miles north of Detroit, had a population of approximately 825 in 1839. (Blois, Gazetteer of the State of Michigan, 354.)
Blois, John T. Gazetteer of the State of Michigan, in Three Parts, Containing a General View of the State. . . . Detroit: Sydney L. Rood, 1839.
William Burton’s journal confirms that on 23 May “Sirrine held a discussion, upon the Book of Mormon.” Crandell Dunn also mentioned a debate at Royal Oak between Sirrine and a Methodist minister, although he reported that the debate took place on 1 July. Dunn might have misdated the debate or had a different debate in mind. (Burton, Journal, May 1842–Oct. 1843, 4; Dunn, Journal, vol. 1, p. 7.)
Burton, Wiliam. Journals, 1839–1840, 1841–1846, 1848, 1850–1851. William Burton, Papers, ca. 1837– 1851. CHL.
When this letter was printed in the Times and Seasons, the editorial staff appear to have misspelled Sirrine’s surname. Unfortunately, there are no extant documents from Sirrine to confirm the spelling of his surname. Sirrine’s second wife, Rachel, spelled the name with an i after the S, rather than an e, indicating that likely was the proper spelling. (Rachel Gillett Sirrine, Honey Creek, IA, to “Dear Mother and Dear Hannah,” 4 July 1848, CHL; see also JS History, vol. E-1, 1685.)
Sirrine, Rachel. Letter, Honey Creek, IA, to “Dear Mother and Dear Hannah,” 4 July 1838. CHL. MS 6802.