Page:History of Utah.djvu/127



SIDNEY RIG DON. 75

In the presence of six elders, at Fayette, in Septem- ber 1830, came the voice of Jesus Christ, promising them every blessing, while the wicked should be de- stroyed. 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 in- structions. Peter Whitmer junior. Parley P. Pratt, and Ziba Peterson were directed to go with Oliver and assist him in preaching the gospel to the Laman- ites, 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.^

Taking with them a copy of the revelation assign- ing to them this work, these first appointed mission- aries set out, and continued their journey, preaching in the villages through which they passed, and stop- ping at Buflalo to instruct the Indians as to their an- cestry, until they came to Kirtland, Ohio. There they remained some time, as many came forward and embraced their faith, among others Sidney Pigdon, 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.^

Taylor. The preface to the ninth edition, published at Liverpool and Lon- don in 18.31, is by Franklin D. Richards, who states that .'34,000 copies of the several editions have been sold in the European missions alone within cloven years. Several editions have since been published in Europe and America.

■■^ Smith says: 'In order to prepare for this (coniirmation) 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.' Jilil- lennial Star, iv. 151; 7'hnes and Seasons, iv. 117-18.

^At the town of Kirtland, two miles from Rigdon's residence, was a num- ber of the members of his cliurch who lived together, and had all things in common, from which circumstance, Smith says, the idea arose that tliis Avas the case with the Mormon believers. To these people the missionaries re- paired and preached with some success, gathering in seventeen on the first occasion. Rigdon after spending some time iu the study of the book of Mor-