J. M. Grant's RIGDON/Part V

by Jedediah M. Grant

PART V

THE COURSE TAKEN BY MR. RIGDON AFTER HIS EXCOMMUNICATION.

When the news reached Mr. Rigdon of the decision, not only of the council, but of the whole church, he began to pour out his vials of wrath upon the city of Nauvoo, the Temple, and all the officers and members of the church, who had rejected him; he proceeded to curse (by virtue of his new keys of David which he professed to have received,) the City and Temple, and all the inhabitants, save those who should leave as soon as possible. I will here insert part of a letter written by Elder Wilford Woodruff, after he had read the trial of Mr. Rigdon, as published in the Times and Seasons:—

”Elder Rigdon and his friends would now claim, before the church and the world, that he holds the keys of the kingdom of God, of the last dispensation, above the Twelve, the church, &c. I am ready to admit before the whole church and the world, that he does hold one key beyond the Twelve; one, that they do not hold—one, that God never held, nor Jesus Christ, nor any true prophet, patriarch, or apostle; Joseph and Hyrum Smith were utter strangers to it. And if we can judge from his own mouth, according to the testimony given on his trial, we would suppose that Lucifer, who made war in heaven, was its author; and that it had been handed down unto the present day, and with it Elder Rigdon has unlocked his heart, and portrayed before our eyes what was in it. What was it? Hear it, all ye Latter-day Saints! Listen O earth! And judge the fruits of this key. He threatens to turn traitor, publish against the church in public journals, intimating that he would bring a mob upon the church, stir up the world against the saints, and bring distress upon them, &c. Times and Seasons, Vol. v. p. 650—653. This ought to be a sufficient reason for any true hearted Latter-day Saint to turn away from him with disgust, and treat all such men and principles according to their desert, which is, to let them entirely alone; for there is not a more despicable principle ever existed in heaven, earth, or hell, than to prove a traitor to our God, our cause, and our friends, and bring distress upon the innocent, and that too by turning against the very cause that a man has spent a portion of his life to build up, and declared, while in the faith, that it was true and righteous; for in all such cases there is entirely a misrepresentation of truth and facts, in order to accomplish the intended evil, while a true statement of facts would advance the cause. This same principle was manifest in the case of Lucifer, Judas, Arnold, and many apostates in this church, who, when they could not get their own ends answered, would threaten to bring mobs upon the church, and in some instances, have done so. I would ask, has Joseph or Hyrum Smith ever held such a key as this, or manifested such a spirit as this? No, never; but have despised it in their hearts. President Smith seemed to be sensible that such fruit was growing in the breast of Elder Rigdon; and if he had accomplished what duty appeared to present to his mind upon that subject, that branch would have been severed from the tree before his death; but through mercy it was spared until it has produced fruit which is evil in its tendency, and dangerous to the welfare and prosperity of the church and kingdom of God. “I would again ask, has Elder Brigham Young ever manifested any knowledge of the key above spoken of, or any spirit or disposition to turn against the church in any time of trial or persecution from its commencement? Has he ever deserted Joseph, Hyrum, his brethren, or the cause, in one instance, since the foundation of this church? No, never, in one instance.”

Mr. Rigdon, while on his journey from Nauvoo to Pittsburg, stopped at St. Louis, and published, in the “People’s Organ,” a letter containing the reason of his expulsion from the Church, which was, as he said, for the crime of wishing to go to Pittsburg and live; but soon after he arrived in Pittsburg, his imagination furnished him with other reasons—evil, after evil presented themselves to his longing vision; he saw why the Smiths were killed, and the reason of the church rejecting him. He saw himself leading on a victorious arm conquering and to conquer.

I cannot describe the state of Mr. Rigdon’s mind clearer, than to give the following quotations, from the pen of an eminent writer.

”imagination may be employed for calling into being evils which have no existence, or for exaggerating those which are real; for fostering malevolent feelings, and for imputing those with whom we are connected motives and intentions which have no foundation in truth. Finally, an ill regulated imagination may be employed in occupying the mind with waking dreams and vain delusions, to the exclusion of all those high pursuits which ought to employ the faculties of a rational being. To indulge the power of fiction and send imagination out upon the wing, is often the sport of those who delight in too much silent speculation. He who has nothing external that can divert him, must find pleasure in his own thoughts, and must conceive himself what he is not,—for who is pleased with what he is. He then expatiates in boundless futurity, and calls from all imaginable conditions, that for the present moment he should most desire; amuses his desires with impos-sible enjoyments and confers upon his pride unattainable dominion. The mind dances from scene to scene, unites all pleasures with all combinations, and riots in delights which nature and fortune, with all their bounty, cannot bestow. In time, some particular train of ideas fix the attention, all other intellectual gratifications are rejected; the mind in weariness or leisure, recurs constantly to the favorite conception, and feasts on the luscious falsehood, whenever she is offended with the bitterness of truth. By degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed, she grows, first imperious and in time despotic. Then fictions begin to operate as realities—false opinions fasten upon the mind, and life passes in dreams of rapture or of anguish.”

On the 8th November, Mr. Rigdon delivered a lecture in this city, in which he referred to a conversation between himself and Elder Orson Hyde, on board the Steam Boat “May Flower,” at St. Louis. He stated that Hyde requested him not to write any thing for the present. His request, said Mr. R., “was made I suppose, because he was fearful I would expose his abominations.”

I will now give Elder Hyde’s edition of the conversation referred to.

”It is true that I went to see Mr. Rigdon on board the steamer “May Flower,” and I took him aside as a friend, and told him I considered his case a critical one, yet I indulged the hope that he would see the error into which he had fallen, and ere long retrace his steps. Now, said I to him, be careful how you put pen to paper in this time of your excitement, but wait a few months and then see how you will feel—should you write in the present state of your feelings, you may commit yourself and lay the foundation for a more bitter repentance at some future period. He said that his course was marked out before him, and that he should pursue it. I replied, I have come to you, Mr. Rigdon, in a spirit of friendship and good will, because I feel it my duty so to do, and drop you this word of caution—but if your course is marked out, and you are resolved to pursue it, you certainly are of age and must act for yourself, and I shall not try to prevent you. Thus were my most kind and friendly feelings transformed in his dark imagination into a disposition of my part to conceal my own scheme.

“With regard to any exposure, which Mr. R. fancied I dreaded, I would say that I have a conscience void of offence before God and man, and am willing to be weighed in the balance with Mr. R. whenever it shall please Almighty God to summon us to appear at his tribunal.

“Some of the real causes of Mr. Rigdon’s expulsion from the church will appear in the Nauvoo Neighbor. But if Mr. R. felt that his cause was a just one, and that his only “crime was in wishing to go to Pittsburg to live,” why did he not appear on the public stand and plead his own defence when he was invited so to do? He could have sounded his defence in the ears of more than six thousand people, in the very place where his grievances should have been redressed. Is he not a man of sense? Does he not possess a flow of language and eloquence not often surpassed? Yes he does. If he regarded the truth, why did he send word by Elder Marks to the stand on Sunday morning, that he was sick and unable to appear for his defence?—when I can prove by his own party that very early on Sunday morning they met together in council and agreed that Mr. Rigdon should make no defence and that his health was quite as good as usual.

“After the case was laid open to the Conference, and the charges very clearly proved, he was publicly invited to come forward again and plead his own defence, or if any friend or attorney of his would come forward and speak for him, the stand was at his service. If elder Rigdon’s crime was only for desiring to live in Pittsburg, what child could not have successfully pleaded his defence? Mr. Rigdon well knows that on the Sabbath previous to the Conference, an expression of the people was taken in relation to his going to Pittsburg in peace, and it was their unanimous expression that he should go in peace. Now he says that he was cut off from the church for the crime of wishing to go to Pittsburg to live. Mr. Rigdon knows this statement to be utterly false, as well as he knows he has a head on his body.”

As Mr. R. proceeded, he made use of the following passages of Scripture: Isa. 3rd Chap. From the 16th verse to the end of the 4th Chapter; most of his quotations from the 3rd Chap. He applied to the females at Nauvoo, in their rich and ornamental attire, walking and mincing as they go and making a tinkling with their feet. Part of the 4th chap. He said had also been fulfilled in Nauvoo.

The next quotation give was from the 3rd chap. II Timothy, which he applied to those who had rejected him, in the same manner as he had in by-gone days applied it to all the sectarian preachers and churches. He had assumed a mild appearance at the commencement, but occasionally, “from the abundance of the hear the mouth would speak.” After considerable ranting and pounding of the desk, with wild looks, and many vehement gestures, he lowered his voice and commenced commenting upon the parables in the 13th chap. Of Matthew; he said there was to be a division of the wheat and tares, after the wheat was gathered from the tares, the Kingdom of Heaven would be like a grain of mustard seed. He endeavoured, with great emphasis, to impress the above idea on the minds of his hearers, said he, “when the wheat and tares grew together, the kingdom looked large—but after the wheat was gathered out is looked like a grain of mustard seed, very small indeed.” But alas, said he, I have the most painful part yet to relate; he then read the latter part of the 24th chap. of Matthew, the sayings of the Saviour where he speaks of the wicked servant, at the time of his coming. He (R.) applied the same in the most sympathetic manner to the death of Elder Joseph Smith saying, he was cut off in an hour when he looked not for it, breaking out into a half crying tone, exclaiming, “Oh, Joseph! Joseph! Joseph! Where art thou! Oh, Joseph! Thou wicked servant, thou hast fallen because of thy transgression! Thou hadst the promise that thou shouldst live if thou wert faithful until the coming of the Saviour! Thou didst have the promise of translating more of the sacred Records! Oh Joseph! If thou hadst not sinned thou mightest have been here, to have thundered forth Heaven’s Eternal truth! Oh Joseph, Joseph, I shall not see thee till I meet thee in the Eternal World!”

After the foregoing sympathetic compound had been poured out to blacken the character of the Martyred Prophet, he gave a quotation from the 25th chap. of Matthew, concerning the Ten Virgins. “Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten Virgins which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the Bridegroom. And five of them were wise and five were foolish.” Then, “said R.,” shall the “Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins. That is, said he, “after the wicked servant should be cut off, and not before, that was to be accomplished first.”