Moses Thatcher's open-air meeting in West Bromwich
Published October 5, 2026 at 1:34 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
While preaching in West Bromwich with other elders, Moses Thatcher held an open-air meeting. An heckler asked a question about polygamy and later challenged Thatcher to work a miracle to prove the truth of his claims. Thatcher refused, citing Jesus's words about a wicked generation seeking after a sign, and noted that such demands are the work of Satan's influence.
Fuller account of this event (the complete account as preserved in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 29, No. 35, 31 August 1867, p. 554):
At West Bromwich, while holding an open-air meeting, a man asked if we believed in polygamy, and upon being answered in the affirmative, he said, 'If you have the power of God, show us a miracle, and we will believe.' I replied, 'A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.'
In Their Own Words
“A few objections were raised by the same gentleman upon other points, with equally poor success on his part, and, as a last effort, he declared that if I would work him a miracle he would join the 'Mormons' at once. I told him, no. I would not show him a miracle to bring him into the Church, for if I did I should have to show him one every week to keep him in. I then referred him to the words of the Lord Jesus—'A wicked and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,' &c. Also, it is written—'That in the last days Satan shall have power to call fire down from heaven'; and no doubt, his Satanic majesty will gain many followers by his wondrous display of power in working miracles. — Millennial Star 29:35”
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 31 August 1867 (Vol. 29, No. 35). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1867-08-31_29_35 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Complete account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 29, No. 35, 31 August 1867, p. 554 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1867-08-31_29_35
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