Elder William Gibson's Reply to Hepburn in Glasgow

“The Council of the Church appointed me to attend the lecture and reply if an opportunity was given. The audience was composed chiefly of clergymen, students, lawyers, and the like. The chairman announced that after the lecture others would be allowed to make brief replies. What was called the lecture was a confused jumble of everything the speaker had heard regarding the Saints: baptism for the living and the dead, personality of God, tithing, emigration, working of miracles, Book of Mormon, Millennial Star, etc. The whole was delivered in vulgar language, accompanied with arms swinging like a windmill, so that it became a most ridiculous display. When he sat down, I arose. The chairman asked my name and what I was. I told him my name was William Gibson, and that I was a minister of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I then commenced my reply. I spoke on the doctrine of the Godhead, and showed that the Bible taught that God was a personage of tabernacle, and that man was made in His image. I then turned to the lecturer and asked him if he was a minister of the Gospel. He said he was. I then asked him if he was a follower of Christ. He said he was. I then asked him if he thought it was right to charge a fee for the privilege of hearing the Gospel preached. I told him that I had seen a poor man at the door who had not the money to pay for a ticket, and had been turned away, and that he (the lecturer) had been preaching for money and divining for hire, and that he was a hireling and not a shepherd. The effect was electrical. The audience cheered, and the lecturer sat with his head hanging down, unable to say a word in his own defense.”

— William Gibson, 'Leaves from My Journal'