Sidney Rigdon

“ In times of peace, it ought to be our aim and our object, to strengthen the bonds of the Union by cultivating peace and good will among ourselves. And in times of war, to meet our foes sword in hand, and defend our rights, at the expense of life. For what is life when freedom has fled? It is a name, a bubble; better far sleep with the dead, than be oppressed among the living. ”

“ And nothing of all this can fail if you are faithful in your calling and consider the nature and the end thereof; for great is he who has called you, and none of his promises can be broken, neither can his faithfulness fail.
Arm yourselves, therefore, like men, ye elders of Israel; store your heads with knowledge and your hearts with grace, and as the heads of the Israel of the last days go forth without fear; for strong is he who hath called you; and omnipotent is the arm of him who sustains you; fear not and your peace shall be like a river and your righteousness as an overflowing stream. ”

“ I said we were dependent on man for the first idea we had of the way of salvation and of the existence of a God; but our knowledge was a very different thing, and I must confess that I am no little surprised at you. Is it possible, sir, that you came forward with such great boldness to challenge a whole society to an investigation of the subject of religion, and yet you do not know the difference between a man's first ideas and his actual knowledge of a thing? How do you think, sir, a man is to reason with such a being? ”

“ Our government is known throughout the civilized world, as the standard of freedom, civil, religious, and political; by it are the acts of all nations tried, and it serves to expose the frauds, the deceptions, and the crafts, of the old world, in attempting to pawn upon the people, monarchy and arastocracy, for republicanism and freedom. So powerful has been its influence, that the hand of the oppressor, even in the old world, has been lightened, tyrants have been made to tremble, and oppressors of mankind, have been filled with fear. ”

“ The spirit of persecution has prevailed in every age of the world, to the great disgrace of the human race, and if there is justice in heaven, to the condemnation of millions; for if the great God proves at last to be the being the Bible represents him to be, millions and tens of millions of the human race will make their bed in hell for persecuting and reviling men on account of their religion. ”

“ May I not again ask, how is Zion to become the joy and the praise of the whole earth, so that kings shall come to the brightness of her rising? Surely, it will be by her becoming more wise, more learned, more refined, and more noble, than the cities of the world, so that she becomes the admiration of the great ones of the earth. ”

“ Next to the worship of our God, we esteem the education of our children and of the rising generation. For what is wealth without society, or society without intelligence. And how is intelligence to be obtained?—by education. It is that which forms the youthful mind: it is that alone, which renders society agreeable, and adds interest and importance, to the worship of God. What is religion without intelligence?—an empty sound. Intelligence is the root, from which all true enjoyments flow. Intelligence is religion, and religion is intelligence, if it is any thing. ”

“ I answer then in the language of the New Testament Romans I:10, "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, to all that believe:" or in other words, it is God's scheme of saving men, and this scheme is made known in the New Testament, which scheme of things (or gospel) consists in putting men in possession of the power of God; for it is God's power to save men, and how is it God's power unto salvation? Answer by putting those who receive it into possession of the power of God. ”

“ We feel in the mean time at liberty to say, that we have all the evidence necessary to satisfy our mind, that Messrs. Campbell, and Scott, the leaders of that brotherhood, are not honest in their religion: they are men who think and act for themselves, independently, and they do know, that the same Jesus who said to his disciples "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature: he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." ”

“ And the Savior said of himself that, "all power is given unto me, in heaven and on earth."—Now may I not ask, with propriety, can a person be a joint heir with him who has all power in heaven and on earth, and yet have no power in heaven nor on earth. This would be too paradoxical for any rational being to pretend to believe. For any rational being must know, that for a person to be a joint heir with another, requires nothing less than to equally partake of the power, by which that other person partook of, and enjoyed his heirship ”

“ Let the nation boast as she might, of her liberties, the excellencies of her institutions, and the perfection of her constitution: the very instant that God began to reveal himself to any portion of the people, that very instant persecution would begin to rage, and those who made the greatest boast of their liberties, would use all their exertions to take away the just rights of others. ”

“ For instance all the religious world Jews and Gentiles say of Peter the hermit that he was a fanatic, and that the crusaders were the veriest enthusiasts in the world; and the Jews say of the present Gentile churches that they are fanatics, and enthusiasts, to believe as they do about the latter day glory.—And the Gentile churches say of the Jews that they are fanatics for their belief in relation to it: and it is no uncommon thing to hear the Gentile churches denouncing each other as fanatics, and enthusiasts, because they hold different opinions about it. ”

“ Now, Sir, you may labor and labor, again and again; you may bring up all the persons mentioned in the bible from Genesis to Revelations, who wrought miracles; and though you should prove that a hundred, or a thousand of them wrought miracles to prove that they were messengers sent of God, and that the revelations which they gave were from God, and when you have done, your theory at last, is as false as satan ”

“ With holy feelings, sacred desires, and grateful hearts to our Divine Benefactor, ought we to perform the duties of this day, and enjoy the privileges, which, as saints of the living God, we enjoy in this land of liberty and freedom, where our most sacred rights, even that of worshiping our God according to his will, is secured unto us by law, and our religious rights so identified with the existence of the nation, that to deprive us of them, will be to doom the nation to ruin, and the Union to dissolution. ”