History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

FORCE OF EXAMPLE. 77
Rigdon was a cogent speaker of imposing mien and
impassioned address. As a man, however, his character
seems to have had a tinge of insincerity. He was
fickle, now and then petulant, irascible, and sometimes
domineering. Later, Joseph Smith took occasion
more than once to rebuke him sharply, fearing that
he might assume the supremacy.
Upon hearing the arguments of Pratt and Cowdery,
and investigating the book of Mormon, Rigdon
was convinced that he had not been legally ordained,
and that his present ministry was without the divine
authority. In regard to the revival of the old dispensation,
he argued thus: "If we have not familiarity
enough with our creator to ask of him a sign, we
are no Christians; if God will not give his creatures
one, he is no better than Juggernaut." The result was,
that he and others accepted the book and its teach-
ings, 4 received baptism and the gift of the holy ghost,
and were ordained to preach.
On one occasion Cowdery preached, followed by
Rigdon. After service they wT ent to the Chagrin
River to baptize. Rigdon stood in the stream and
poured forth his exhortations with eloquent fervor.
One after another stepped forward until thirty had
been baptized. Present upon the bank was a hardheaded
lawyer, Varnem J. Card, who as he listened
grew pale with emotion. Suddenly he seized the arm
of a friend and whispered, "Quick, take me away, or
in a moment more I shall be in that water!" One
hundred and twenty-seven converts at once, the num-
* Howe intimates that Rigdon knew more of the book and the people than
he pretended. Of the pi-oselytes made in his church he says: ' Near the residence
of Rigdon, in Kirtland, there had been for some time previous a few
families belonging to his congregation, who had formed themselves into a
common stock society, and had become considerably fanatical, and were daily
looking for some wonderful event to take place in the world. Their minds
had become fully prepared to embrace Mormonism, or any other mysterious
ism that should first present itself. Seventeen in number of these persons
readily believed the whole story of Cowdery about the finding of the golden
plates and the spectacles. They were all reinnnersed in one night by Cowdery.'
Mormonism Unveiled, 103.