In tracing Rigdon's connection with Smith's enterprise, attention must be carefully paid both to Rigdon's personal characteristics, and to the resemblance between the doctrines he had taught in the pulpit and those that appear in the Mormon Bible.
Rigdon's mental and religious temperament was just of the character to be attracted by a novelty in religious belief. He, with his brother-in-law, Adamson Bentley, visited Alexander Campbell in 1821, and spent a whole night in religious discussion. When they parted the next day, Rigdon declared that "if he had within the last year promulgated one error, he had a thousand," and Mr. Campbell, in his account of the interview, remarked, "I found it expedient to caution them not to begin to pull down anything they had builded until they had reviewed, again and again, what they had heard; not even then rashly and without much consideration."*
* Millennial Harbinger, 1848, p. 523.
A leading member of the church at Mantua has written, "Sidney Rigdon preached for us, and, notwithstanding his extravagantly wild freaks, he was held in high repute by many."*
* "Early History of the Disciples' Church in the Western
Reserve," by A: S. Hayden (1876), p. 239.
An important church discussion occurred at Warren, Ohio, in 1828. Following out the idea of the literal interpretation of the Scriptures taught in the Disciples' church, Rigdon sprung on the meeting an argument in favor of a community of goods, holding that the apostles established this system at Jerusalem, and that the modern church, which rested on their example, must follow them. Alexander Campbell, who was present, at once controverted this position, showing that the apostles, as narrated in Acts, "sold their possessions" instead of combining them for a profit, and citing Bible texts to prove that no "community system" existed in the early church. This argument carried the meeting, and Rigdon left the assemblage, embittered against Campbell beyond forgiveness. To a brother in Warren, on his way home, he declared, "I have done as much in this reformation as Campbell or Scott, and yet they get all the honor of it." This claim is set forth specifically in the sketch of Rigdon in Smith's autobiography. Referring to Rigdon and Alexander Campbell, this statement is there made:—
"After they had separated from the different churches, these gentlemen were on terms of the greatest friendship, and frequently met together to discuss the subject of religion, being yet undetermined respecting the principles of the doctrine of Christ or what course to pursue. However, from this connection sprung up a new church in the world, known by the name of 'Campbellites'; they call themselves 'Disciples.' The reason why they were called Campbellites was in consequence of Mr. Campbell's periodical, above mentioned [the Christian Baptist], and it being the means through which they communicated their sentiments to the world; other than this, Mr. Campbell was no more the originator of the sect than Elder Rigdon."
Rigdon's bitterness against the Campbells and his old church more than once manifested itself in his later writings. For instance, in an article in the Messenger and Advocate (Kirtland), of June, 1837, he said: "One thing has been done by the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. It has puked the Campbellites effectually; no emetic could have done so half as well.... The Book of Mormon has revealed the secrets of Campbellism and unfolded the end of the system." In this jealousy of the Campbells, and the discomfiture as a leader which he received at their hands, we find a sufficient object for Rigdon's desertion of his old church associations and desire to build up something, the discovery of which he could claim, and the government of which he could control.
To understand the strength of the argument that the doctrinal teachings of the Mormon Bible were the work of a Disciples' preacher rather than of the ne'er-do-well Smith, it is only necessary to examine the teachings of the Disciples' church in Ohio at that time. The investigator will be startled by the resemblance between what was then taught to and believed by Disciples' congregations and the leading beliefs of the Mormon Bible. In the following examples of this the illustrations of Disciples' beliefs and teachings are taken from Hayden's "Early History of the Disciples' Church in the Western Reserve."
The literal interpretation of the Scriptures, on which the Mormon defenders of their faith so largely depend,—as for explanations of modern revelations, miracles, and signs,—was preached to so extreme a point by Ohio Disciples that Alexander Campbell had to combat them in his Millennial Harbinger. An outcome of this literal interpretation was a belief in a speedy millennium, another fundamental belief of the early Mormon church. "The hope of the millennial glory," says Hayden, "was based on many passages of the Holy Scriptures.... Millennial hymns were learned and sung with a joyful fervor.... It is surprising even now, as memory returns to gather up these interesting remains of that mighty work, to recall the thorough and extensive knowledge which the convert quickly obtained. Nebuchadnezzar's vision... many portions of the Revelation were so thoroughly studied that they became the staple of the common talk." Rigdon's old Pittsburg friend, Scott, in his report as evangelist to the church association at Warren in 1828, said: "Individuals eminently skilled in the word of God, the history of the world, and the progress of human improvements see reasons to expect great changes, much greater than have yet occurred, and which shall give to political society and to the church a different, a very different, complexion from what many anticipate. The millennium—the millennium described in the Scriptures—will doubtless be a wonder, a terrible wonder, to all."