Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 2 of 2)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 2 of 2)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches
The next question which Mr. Schroeder considers is Rigdon's opportunity
to steal the Spaulding manuscript. This depends upon whether Sidney
Rigdon was at Pittsburg when the Spaulding manuscript was there
between 1812, the time of Spaulding's advent into Pittsburg with his
manuscript, and 1814, the time of his departure. But to humor Mr.
Schroeder we will extend the time so as to include his fiction about
a "re-written" manuscript and its "second submission" to Patterson
for publication. So the question is, was Rigdon in Pittsburg between
1812 and 1816, the time of Spaulding's death? Here I insert a brief
biography of Sidney Rigdon, up to the time of his joining the Mormon
Church. It is taken from the "Illustrated History of Washington County,
Pa.," in which was published the treatise on "Who Wrote the Book of
Mormon?" I select this account of Mr. Rigdon's movements up to 1830,
because it is the one regarded by Mr. Schroeder as more accurate than
other accounts; and it is only slightly different, but in no respect
materially so, from the account of Mr. Rigdon published in the "History
of Joseph Smith," in the _Millennial Star,_ supplement, volume XIV.,
and condensed in a foot note in the "History of the Church." [109]
[Footnote 109: "History of the Church," Vol. I, pp. 120-1, and notes.]
"Sidney Rigdon was born near the present village of Library,
Allegheny Co., Pa., Feb. 19, 1793; attended in boyhood an ordinary
country school; joined the Baptist Church near his home May 31,
1817; studied divinity with a Baptist preacher named Clark in
Beaver County, Pa., in the winter of 1818-19, and was licensed to
preach; went to Warren, Ohio, where he was ordained, and in the
winter of 1821-22 returned to Pittsburg; became pastor of the First
Baptist Church there Jan. 28, 1822, and for doctrinal errors was
excluded from the Baptist denomination Oct. 11, 1823. He continued
to Preach in the court-house to his adherents, but in 1824,
according to one account, he removed to the Western Reserve Ohio;
according to another account he engaged in the tanning business in
Pittsburg until 1826, and then removed to the Reserve, residing for
brief periods at Bainbridge, Mentor, and Kirtland. At this time
he was connected with the Campbellite or Disciple's Church, and
preached its doctrines, mingled with extravagant conceits of his
own, until in 1830 he joined the Mormons." [110]
[Footnote 110: "Who Wrote the Book of Mormon?" p. 8.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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