We proceed, however, with our narrative. Rigdon tarried with Smith in Manchester about two months, receiving revelations, preaching in that vicinity, and trying to establish the truth of Mormonism. But meeting with little success, he returned to Kirtland, being followed in a few days by the prophet and his connections. This happened early in 1831. "From this point in the history of this delusion, it began to spread with considerable rapidity. Nearly all of their male converts, however ignorant and worthless, were forthwith transformed into 'Elders,' and sent forth to proclaim, with all their wild enthusiasm, the wonders and mysteries of Mormonism. All those having a taste for the marvellous, and delighting in novelties, flocked to hear them. Many travelled fifty and an hundred miles to the throne of the prophet, in Kirtland, to hear from his own mouth the certainty of his excavating a bible and spectacles. Many, even in the New England States, after hearing the frantic story of some of these 'elders,' would forthwith place their _all_ into a wagon, and wend their way to the 'promised land,' in order, as they supposed, to escape the judgments of Heaven, which were soon to be poured out upon the land. The State of New York, they were _privately_ told, would most _probably_ be sunk, unless the people thereof believed in the pretensions of Smith. "On the arrival of Smith in Kirtland, he appeared astonished at the wild enthusiasm and scalping performances, of his proselytes there, as heretofore related. He told them that he had enquired of the Lord concerning the matter, and had been informed that it was all the work of the Devil. The disturbances, therefore, ceased. Thus we see that the Devil, for the time being, held full sway in making converts to Mormonism."[5] We have already stated that Sidney Rigdon, previous to his conversion to the Mormons, was a preacher among the Campbellite Baptists, and enjoyed considerable popularity. After his return to Kirtland, with his new companions and new faith, Elder Campbell, the founder of the sect to which he had previously belonged, sent him a challenge for a public debate, in which he would undertake to show the foolish absurdities, shameless pretensions, and manifest imposture of the whole Mormon scheme. This challenge, however, Rigdon very prudently declined accepting. FOOTNOTES: [5] Mormonism Unveiled. CHAPTER XXX. MORMON EMIGRATION TO MISSOURI. Mission to Missouri--Cause that led to emigration--Settlement at Independence--Change in operations--Gift of tongues--Rule for speaking and interpreting. Cowdery and those connected with his mission, after having made the converts we have noticed at Kirtland in the autumn of 1830, proceeded on still farther to the west, in order to convert the Indians. They at length set down in the western part of Missouri.