“I was a Bible reader before I came into this Church, and, so far as the letter of the Book was concerned I understood it. I professed to be a believer in the Bible so far as I knew how; but as for understanding by the Spirit of the Lord I never did until I became a Latter-day Saint.

I was well acquainted with many of the priests of the day, and I would frequently think to myself that I would get some knowledge from them. And as I became acquainted with smart, intelligent, literary priests and professors of religion, I thought, ‘Now I can obtain some intelligence from this or that man,’ and I would begin to ask questions on certain texts of scripture, but they would always leave me as they found me, in the dark. They were there themselves, and I knew of a surety before I heard the gospel that the priests were blind guides, leading the blind, and that there was nothing left for them only to stumble here and there and perhaps fall into a ditch. That much knowledge I had previous to my becoming acquainted with what is called ‘Mormonism’.”

– Brigham Young, July 1857