Page:History of Utah.djvu/132



80 THE STORY OF MORMONISM.

The 3^ear 1831 opens with flattering prospects. On the 2d of January a conference is held at Fayette, attended by revelations and prophecy. James Col- ville, a baptist minister, accepts the faith, but shortly recants, being tempted of Satan, and in fear of per- secution.^ Smith and his wife go with Rigdon and

white appear black and black white as any other man; and at all times pre- pared to establish, to the satisfaction of great numbers of people, the negative or affirmative of any and every question from scripture, he was forthwith appointed to promulgate all the absurdities and ridiculous pretensions of Mormonism, and call on the holy prophets to prove all the words of Smith. But the miraculous powers conferred upon him we do not learn have yet been put in requisition. It seems that the spii'it had not, before the arrival of Rigdon, told Smith anything about the promised land, or his removal to Ohio. It is therefore very questionable what manner of spirit it was which dic- tated most of the after movements of the prophet. The spirit of Rigdon, it must be presumed, however, generally held sway; for a revelation was soon had that ivirtlaud, the residence of Rigdon and his brethren, was to be the eastern border of the promised land, and from thence to the Pacific Ocean. On this land the New Jerusalem, the city of refuge, was to be built. Upon it all true Mormons were to assemble, to escape the destruction of the world which was so soon to take place.' Iloive'n Mormonism Unveiled, 109-10. Tucker, Origin and Prog. Mor., 7G-8, thus speaks of the first appearance of this first regular jNIormon preacher before a Palmyra congregation: 'Rigdon introduced himself as the messenger of God, declaring that he was commanded from above to proclaim the Mormon revelation. After going through with a ceremonious form of prayer, in which he expressed his grateful sense of the blessings of the glorious gospel dispensation now opening to the world, and the miraculous light from heaven to be displayed through the instrumentality of the chosen revelator, Joseph Smith Jr,. . .he announced his text as fol- lows: First book of Nephi, chapter iv. — "And the angel spake unto mc, .say- ing. These last records which thou hast seen among the gentiles shall estab- lish the truth of the first, which is of the twelve apostles of the lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and j^eoplo that the lamb of God is the son of the eternal father and saviour of the world; and that all men must come unto him or they cannot be saved. " The preacher assumed to establish the theory that the book of Mormon and the old bible were one in inspiration and importance, and that the precious things now re- vealed had for wise purposes been withheld from the book first promulgated to the world, and were necessary to establish its truth. In the course of his argument he applied various quotations from the two books to prove his posi- tion. Holding the book of Mormon in his right hand, and the bible in his left hand, ]ie brought them together in a manner corresponding to the em- phatic declaration made by him, that they were both equally the word of God; that neither was perfect without the other; and that they were inseparably necessary to complete the everlasting gospel of the saviour Jesus Clirist. ' It is said that Rigdon, after his return to Kirtland from liis visit to Smith, in one of his eloquent discourses on the new faith, 'gave a challenge to the world to disprove the new bible, and the pretensions of its authors.' Rigdon 's old friend, Thomas Campbell, hearing of it, wrote him from Mentor accept- ing, at the same time enclosing an outline of what his line of argument would be. There the matter dropjjed.

^See MilleMnial Star, v. 33-5; Times and Seasons, iv. 352-4. Mather, in LippincoWs Mag., Aug. 1880, states that to escape persecution sixty believ-