History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

SIDNEY RIG DON.'
In the presence of six elders, at Fayette, in September
1830, came the voice of Jesus Christ, promising
them every blessing, while the wicked should be destroyed.
The millennium should come ; but first dire
destruction should fall upon the earth, and the great
and abominable church should be cast down. Hiram
Page renounced his stone. David Whitmer was or-
dered to his father's house, there to await further instructions.
Peter Whitmer junior, Parley P. Pratt,
and Ziba Peterson were directed to go with Oliver
and assist him in preaching the gospel to the Lamanites,
that is to say, to the Indians in the west, the
remnant of the tribe of Joseph. Thomas B. Marsh
was promised that he should begin to preach. Miracles
were limited to casting out devils and healing the sick.
Wine for sacramental purposes must not be bought,
but made at home. 2
Taking with them a copy of the revelation assigning
to them this work, these first appointed missionaries
set out, and continued their journey, preaching
in the villages through which they passed, and stopping
at Bufi'alo to instruct the Indians as to their ancestry,
until they came to Kirtland, Ohio. There
they remained some time, as many came forward and
embraced their faith, among others Sidney Pigclon,
a preaching elder in the reformed baptist church, who
presided over a congregation there, a large portion of
whom likewise became interested in the latter-day
church. 3
Taylor The preface to the ninth edition, published at Liverpool and London
in 1851, is by Franklin D. Richards, who states that 54,000 copies of the
several editions have been sold in the European missions alone within eleven
years. Several editions have since been published in Europe and America.
2 Smith says: ' In order to prepare for this (confirmation) I set out to go
to procure some wine for the occasion, but had gone only a short distance
when I was met by a heavenly messenger, and received the revelation. Millennial
Star , iv . 151; Times and Seasons, iv. 117-18.
3 At the town of Kirtland, two miles from Rigdon's residence, was a number
of the members of his church who lived together, and had all things in
common, from which circumstance, Smith says, the idea arose that this was
the case with the Mormon believers. To these people the missionaries repaired
and preached with some success, gathering in seventeen on the iirst
occasion. Rigdon after spending some time in the study of the book oi Mor-
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