Background
Sidney Rigdon was born on Feburary 19, 1793 at Piny Fork, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was the third and youngest son of William and Nancy (Gallaher) Rigdon who were descended from English, Scotch, and Irish stock.
(Oration Delivered by Mr. S. Rigdon Sidney Rigdon, leader ...)
Oration Delivered by Mr. S. Rigdon Sidney Rigdon, leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement (1793-1876) This ebook presents «Oration Delivered by Mr. S. Rigdon», from Sidney Rigdon. A dynamic table of contents enables to jump directly to the chapter selected. TABLE OF CONTENTS -01- ABOUT THIS BOOK -02- MOTTO -03- ORATION
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(Excerpt from An Appeal to the American People: Being an A...)
Excerpt from An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; And of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri We have many more letters from respectable gentlemen; but we deem the foregoing quite sufficient to be inserted in this work, the Original of which may be seen by any person wishing it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(Excerpt from An Appeal to the American People: Being an A...)
Excerpt from An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; And of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri We have many more letters from respectable gentlemen; but we deem the foregoing quite sufficient to be inserted in this work, the Original of which may be seen by any person wishing it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(Excerpt from A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church...)
Excerpt from A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Selected by S. Rigdon N o saint can engage in this department of the worship of God, and enjoy the spirit of true devotion, unless the compo sitiou he sings is true, and such as the Lord approves. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Sidney Rigdon was born on Feburary 19, 1793 at Piny Fork, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was the third and youngest son of William and Nancy (Gallaher) Rigdon who were descended from English, Scotch, and Irish stock.
His schooling was meager and irregular.
After twenty-six years on the family farmstead, he left home to reside with a Baptist preacher who influenced him to enter the ministry.
In May 1819, with a license to preach in his pocket, he moved to Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, where he became closely associated with Adamson Bentley, another Baptist minister who introduced to him the views of Alexander Campbell.
Largely at Campbell's suggestion, he took charge of a small Baptist congregation in Pittsburgh, but in August 1824 he returned to Ohio to enter the tanning business with his brother-in-law, Richard Brook.
Within two years he was preaching again, but unattached to any sect.
He went about the Western Reserve contending that the only true gospel lay in a return to the Scriptures, foretelling the "restoration of the ancient order of things, " described in the Bible, and the imminence of the millennium.
He had much to do in converting large numbers of Baptists to the doctrines of Thomas and Alexander Campbell who were then in Ohio. Later he accepted an invitation to take the congregation at Mentor, Ohio, and by 1828 he was definitely allied with the Campbellite movement. Some writers maintain that Rigdon rewrote and expanded a novel written by Solomon Spaulding and that Joseph Smith, with Rigdon's connivance, palmed it off as the Book of Mormon. Other historians, including, of course, the official chroniclers, take a different view. Rigdon, to the end, denied authorship of the Book of Mormon.
It is certain that his public conversion to Mormonism came through his friend, Parley P. Pratt, in November 1830. From this time on until the death of Smith, Rigdon played an important rôle in the new movement. He entered enthusiastically into Smith's plan for an "inspired" "re-translation" of the Bible, although neither of them knew Hebrew, Greek, or Latin. He engaged in extensive preaching and writing, helped effect and complete the organization of the church hierarchy, became first counselor to the Prophet, and by "divine" revelation he was appointed "Spokesman" for Smith and the entire church.
He accompanied Smith and others to western Missouri in the summer of 1831. Upon the return to Kirtland, Rigdon like his colleagues became deeply involved financially in the craze of land speculation. The debacle of the curious "Kirtland Safety Society Anti-BANKing Company, " which had unloaded illegal bank notes on creditors and the general public, brought on such a storm of protest that many followers apostatized and Smith and Rigdon in January 1838 fled to Missouri to escape mob violence and judicial action.
The Mormons who had settled in Missouri under Smith's edict soon fell into conflict with the non-Mormons.
Following the clash of arms in the late summer and early autumn of 1838, Smith and Rigdon were imprisoned and escaped the death penalty only by Gen. A. W. Doniphan's refusal to execute the orders of the court martial. After some months of imprisonment and subsequent illness Rigdon got to Quincy, Illinois, in February 1839, discouraged in spirit and broken in health. Somewhat reluctantly he followed Smith's advice and settled in Nauvoo, where he became city councilman, postmaster, trustee and professor of church history in the newly established "University of the City of Nauvoo, " and still later city attorney, although there is no evidence that he was ever admitted to the Illinois bar. Both in Kirtland and in Missouri Smith and Rigdon had had several serious differences of opinion. In Nauvoo these divergences were even more evident.
From 1842 on, Smith was increasingly convinced that Rigdon was aiding and abetting his enemies. Rigdon did not accept the secret practice of polygamy which Smith introduced to his close advisers. The intense reaction of his daughter Nancy to Smith's proposal to make her one of his "spiritual wives" may well have influenced Rigdon's attitude.
In 1844 when Smith staged his campaign for no less an office than the presidency of the United States, Rigdon, in spite of an almost open breach between the two, was selected to be his running mate. Rigdon left Nauvoo in June ostensibly to participate in the campaign but there is considerable evidence that he had no intention of returning. When he learned of the assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, however, he hastened back hoping to be selected as "Guardian" of the church. He based his claim upon a "vision" which he had had at Pittsburgh. But he was outmaneuvered by Brigham Young and the other apostles who as a body were chosen to head the church. Rigdon remained at Nauvoo for several weeks until excommunicated on September 8, 1844. He retraced his steps to Pittsburgh where he rounded up a small number of Mormons who like himself were convinced that the successors to Smith in Nauvoo had misled the "Saints. "
In April 1845 at a conference his followers voted him First President, Prophet, Seer, Revelator, Translator, Trustee and Trust of their new organization, the Church of Christ. They disowned any connection with the Western Mormons.
Rigdon produced revelations and prophecies, including one predicting the destruction of Nauvoo which was fulfilled. He carried on various rituals and appointed new officials, but as the years passed by the new sect practically disappeared.
His last days were spent at Friendship, Allegany County, New York.
(Excerpt from An Appeal to the American People: Being an A...)
(Excerpt from An Appeal to the American People: Being an A...)
(Excerpt from A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church...)
(Oration Delivered by Mr. S. Rigdon Sidney Rigdon, leader ...)
Without doubt Rigdon was a neurotic. He was petty, extremely stubborn, and given to unreasonable bursts of anger. He experienced fantastic visions, especially during his intense emotional states, which in connection with references to his frothing at the mouth suggest a certain tendency to epilepsy.
In spite of these handicaps, he was a talented orator although inclined, as Smith himself once remarked, "to dress up the truth. " He was essentially an emotional agitator rather than an effective administrator.
In June 1820 he married Bentley's sister-in-law Phebe Brook, a native of Bridgeton, New Jersey. They had eleven children.