Sidney Rigdon: 1830 Church

Mormon History: 1830 to 1839

Sidney Rigdon: 1830 Church

Sidney Rigdon's conference address of Saturday, April 6, 1844. After nearly five years "silence," he rises from a sick bed to address the conference "in my true character." In 1830 meetings were held in secrecy for fear of persecution. "We talked such big things … we sat in secret and beheld the glorious visions." Many things spoken of have come to pass. Testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Salvation belongs to the kingdom. Kingdom has its own laws (apart from government).

Five years of silence		It is with no ordinary degree of satisfaction, I enjoy this privilege this morning; want of health and other circumstances have kept me in silence for nearly the last five years. It can hardly be expected, that when the violence of sickness having used its influence, and the seeds of disease have so long preyed upon me, that I can rise before this congregation.	"Conference Minutes," TS 5 no. 9 (May 1, 1844): 522–524. Present: Joseph, Hyrum, William Marks, Brigham, Heber, Willard, Wilford, John Taylor, George A. Smith, "an immense number of elders, and an innumerable concourse of people." The original text contains no paragraph breaks.
Sick bed		I am now come forth from a bed of sickness, and have enough strength left to appear here for the first time in my true character. I have not come before a conference for the last five years in my true character. I shall consider this important privilege sacred in my family history, during life. I hardly promise myself lungs to make this congregation hear me, I shall do the best I can, and the greatest can do no more.—
Knew church from its infancy		The circumstances by which we are now surrounded points out the principles of my discourse—the history of this church which I have known from its infancy:	Parley, Oliver, Ziba, and Peter Whitmer Jr. arrived in Mentor, Ohio, where Sidney lived, on October 28, 1830. He was baptized within 10 days and with Edward Partridge went to see Joseph in New York, arriving in early December. Sidney Rigdon, 58–71; J. Whitmer, 3–4.
Behold the church of God (own text)		my text is, "Behold the church of God in the last days." I do not know that I can find it in the Bible; I do not think it is necessary to have Paul to make a text for me; I can make a text for myself;
1830 beginnings		I can recollect in the year 1830, I met the whole church of Christ in a little old log house about 20 feet square, near Waterloo, N. Y. and we began to talk with great confidence, and talked big things, although we were not many people, we had big feelings;	¶ January 2, 1831 Peter Whitmer Sr.'s log house was 20' x 30'.
We looked upon men as grasshoppers		we knew fourteen years ago that the church would become as large as it is to-day; we were as big then, as we shall ever be; we began to talk like men in authority and power—we looked upon the men of the earth as grass hoppers; if we did not see this people, we saw by vision, the church of God, a thousand times larger;
Though few in numbers		and when men would come in, they would say we wanted to upse[t] the government, [523] although we were not enough to well man a farm, or meet a woman with a milk pail; all the elders, all the members, met in conference, in a room 20 feet square.
Phelps jailed for reading Book of Mormon		I recollect elder Phelps being put in jail for reading the Book of Mormon. He came to see us, and expressed great astonishment, and left us apparently pondering in his heart; he afterward came to Kirtland, Ohio, and said he was a convert.
Many things have come to pass		Many things were taught, believed, and preached, then, which have since come to pass;
Secret meetings Accusations		we knew the whole world would laugh at us, so we concealed ourselves; and there was much excitement about our secret meetings, charging us with designs against the government, and with laying plans to get money, &c. which never existed in the heads of any one else,
Secret to avoid ridicule		and if we had talked in public, we should have been ridiculed more than we were, the world being entirely ignorant of the testimony of the prophets and without knowledge of what God was about to do; treated all we said with pretended contempt, and much ridicule; and had they have heard all we said, it would have made it worse for us;
Believed nations would come to us one day		we talked about the people coming as doves to the windows, that all nations should flock unto it; that they should come bending to the standard of Jesus, saying, our fathers have taught falsehood, and things in which there is no profit; and of whole nations being born in one day;
Threatened		we talked such big things that men could not bear them, and they not only ridiculed us for what we did say in public, but threatened and inflicted much personal abuse,
If they only knew …		and had they heard all we said, their violence would have been insupportable.
Would have persecuted us		God had great things to say for the salvation of the world, which, if they had been told to the public, would have brought persecution upon us unto death; so we were obliged to retire to our secret chambers, and commune ourselves with God.
Capable of choosing our own guardian		[He here referred to the prayer of elder Phelps concerning our having arrived at the age to choose our own guardian.]	Bracketed text is in the original.
They would have killed us	¶	If we had told the people what our eyes behold this day, we should not be believed; but the rascals would have shed our blood, if we had only told them what we believed.
Sat in secret and beheld visions		There we sat in secret and beheld the glorious visions, and powers of the kingdom of heaven, pass and repass; we had not a mighty congregation to shelter us—if a mob came upon us, we had to run and hide ourselves to save our lives.
Now we can tell Had to meet in secret		The time has now come to tell why we held secret meetings. We were maturing plans fourteen years ago which we can now tell; were we maturing plans to corrupt the world, to destroy the peace of society? Let fourteen years experience of the church tell the story. The church never would have been here, if we had not done as we did in secret.
Charges of imposter But we knew		The cry of false prophet and imposter rolled upon us. I do not know that anything has taken place in the history of this church, which we did not then believe; it was written upon our hearts, and never could be taken away; it was indelibly engraved, the power beneath yonder heavens could obliterate it.
Foundation of the church laid		This was the period when God laid the foundation of the church, and he laid it firmly, truly, and upon eternal truth. If any man says it is not the work of God, I know they lie.—
Church of God		Some of you who know you have a house, how long would it take to make you reason yourself into a belief that you have no house, where you now reside with your family? Neither have we any power whereby we can ever persuade ourselves, that this is not the church of God. We do not care who sinks or swims, or opposes; but we know here is the church of God, and I have authority before God for saying so.
Testimony Vision of glories of God and eternity		I have the testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy; I have slept with it, I have walked with it; the idea has never been out of my heart for a moment, and I will reap the glory of it when I leave this world. I defy men, and hell, and devils to put it out of my heart: I defy all, and will triumph in spite of them. I know God, I have gazed upon the glory of God, the throne, visions and glories of God, and the visions of eternity in days gone by.
God laughs at our persecutors		What is a man of God to do, when he sees all the madness, wrath and follies of our persecutors. He will do as God does; he will sit and laugh; one breath from the nostrils of God would blow them out of existence to hell.
In the early days, nothing to eat or wear		These were the beginning of good days; shut up in a room, eating nothing but dry johnny cake and buttermilk; every man who had a little farm, or clothes, sold them and distributed what he had among the rest, and did the best they could. I had nothing to eat, nothing to wear, and yet it was the beginning of good days.
Must prove yourselves to God		Some say I want plenty to eat, plenty to drink, plenty to wear and a good house to live in, and say they, then I will believe; but God will not give it, until you have proved yourselves to him.
Get visions Don't worry about temporal matters		No wonder then that we should be joyful to-day. If the people will do as they are told, I will tell you what to do. Get the visions of heaven, and seek not what you shall eat or what you shall drink, but seek the will of God; get into the presence of God, and then you will have johnny cake and milk and water no more.
Glories of the Saints		Would you not be astonished if even now we should tell the glories and the privileges of the saints of God to you, and to the world, we should be ridiculed; and no wonder we shut it up in secret; if we were to tell you [524] when Jehovah looked on, lo it is beauty, it is heaven, it is felicity to look on; I should marvel if it were otherwise; if a man tells you one glory or one message, he is learning another at the same time.
Secret meetings not evil		Do not be astonished then if we even yet have secret meetings; asking God for things for your benefit. Do not be afraid, go back to the commencement of this church, and see what was concocted then; there was no evil concocted when we first held secret meetings, and it is the same now;
Trust God		has God forgotten to be gracious? to be merciful to mankind? Did he ever concoct anything that was devilish for mankind? He could not do it, I never am afraid of God or man concocting anything to hurt me, I have faith to detect man, even if he did; I would ask God to detect them, and would hold them fast before he should do it. I am not afraid of men or devils. I have none of those fears, jealousies, dreads, foreboding, surmising, &c.; I put my trust in God, and whatever God does for me, is only for my salvation.
		A man is a bad teamster who runs his team in the worst road. [And showed how much like the gospel.]	Bracketed text is in the original.
		What I have already said, is only to prepare the way.
Pottowattomies arrive		[Here five of the Pottowattomie tribe appeared with their interpreter, and were assisted to the stand by the president.]	Bracketed text is in the original.
Hasn't told all		I am going to tell of something that surprised me at the beginning of the church; I have handled, heard, seen and known things which I have not yet told.
"Wise" men claimed visions		After the church began to grow, it was favored with monstrous wise men; they had so much wisdom that they could dispute what God said, and what his servant said. They were opposed to virtue; they would say they had revelations and visions, and were as certain that God had given it, as I was that the devil had.
Some always oppose		He referred to the children of Israel who were snivelling and murmuring about their leeks and onions, &c. &c., and so it is in these last days, some men are always yelling about what the church believes, and opposing every good thing.
Go ahead, devils		I want devils to gratify themselves, and if howling, yelling, yelping, will do you any good; do it till you are all damned. If calling us devils, &c., will do you any good, let us have the whole of it, and you can then go on your way to hell without a grunt.
They know		We hear these things ever since the church existed, they have come up with us, they have had so much more wisdom, they knew all about the kingdom before God revealed it; and they know all things before they are heard; they understand more than God knows.
We get all kinds		We gather of all kinds, if we get all nations, we get all wisdom, all cunning, and every thing else. The sectarians cannot be as wise as we are, for they have only got the plans of man for salvation, but we have got man's plans, the devil's plans, and the best of all, we have God's plan.
		I do not know whether there are any of these wise men here this morning; I have merely given this as a part of the history of this church.
Salvation belongs to the kingdom		I am disposed to give some reasons why salvation only belongs to the kingdom of God, and to that alone.
		I will endeavor to show why salvation belongs to us more peculiarly, in contradistinction of all other bodies; will this be clear enough?
No distinction between salvation and government		I discover one thing, mankind have labored under one universal mistake about this, viz: Salvation was distinct from government; i.e.; that I can build a church without government, and that thing have power to save me.
Theocracy		When God sets up a system of salvation, he sets up a system of government; when I speak of a government I mean what I say; I mean a government that shall rule over temporal and spiritual affairs.
		Every man is a government of himself, and infringe upon no other government. A man is not an honorable man if he is not above all law, and above government.
Need government		I see in our town we have need of government, some study law, only for the purpose of seeing how many feuds, how may broils they can kick up, how much they can disturb the peace of the public, without breaking the law, and then say: "I know my rights and will have them" "I did not know it was the marshal, or I would not have done it."
		He is no gentleman, gentlemen would not insult a poor man in the street, but would bow to him, as much as those who appear more respectable.
Law		No marshal, or any one else should pull me up; we ought to live a great way within the circle of the laws of the land. I would live far above all law.
Kingdom has its own laws		The law of God is far more righteous than the laws of the land; the laws of God are far above the laws of the land. The kingdom of God does not interfere with the laws of the land, but keeps itself by its own laws.
		(To be continued)	The next issue of the TS was filled with Joseph's presidential campaign. This article was not continued.
Sidney Rigdon Sidney Rigdon's Independence Day Oration (1838) Home