Jedediah M. Grant

“ Recollect this—“an apostle is an elder” and he has authority to ordain elders, priests, &c. Be wise and lay hands suddenly on no man; neither suffer any one to lay hands suddenly on you. It takes a majority of any quorum, according to the order of God, as declared in the Doctrine and Covenants, which I hold in my hand, and the common consent of the whole church, to make any act valid; every ordination therefore, made by Sidney Rigdon, he being one only out of a quorum of three, even if he had not otherwise transgressed, is illegal. ”

“ Elder Rigdon says he claims no jurisdiction over the Twelve, nor the Twelve over him. Says I, Elder Rigdon, such a course as this will lead to a division of the church. He replied there will be a good many churches build up all over the world, I asked it all these churches would be subject to one common head. He answered they would not. Elder Young replied, then there will be many bodies. He replied, Oh no! I then said where there are many heads there is no head at all; and a thing that has got many heads must be a hydra.—a monster: a house divided against itself cannot stand. ”

“ He has no authority only what he receives from the church, if he was one with us, why was he not in our councils? He was not in the council pertaining to the High Priesthood until just before he started for Pittsburg. Brother Phelps was the means of bringing him in, but he has not go the same authority as others; there are more than thirty men who have got higher authority than he has. Elder Rigdon has intimated that if we opposed him we should have a mob on us. Brethern, if I have to be martyred for the truth, amen to it! If I have to go as Joseph and Hyrum did, it will be a short work. ”

“ When Joseph was alive the people had confidence in the quorums, but now they had not that confidence; the people must choose some man they can have confidence in, to act. Said I to him, Elder Rigdon, there never was a time when the people were more willing to hearken to council and be agreed, than they are now. Said I, has not the Almighty God established authorities in this church by Joseph Smith, such as the quorum of the twelve, the high council and other quorums, and have they not power to act, and will they not be damned if they do not act ”

“ The moral was that when men suffer their imaginations to be amused with things along way ahead, they suffer loss by neglecting those things which immediately concern them. The great God said through Joseph—build this temple; I give you a sufficient time to build it, and if you do not build it by the appointed time, you shall be rejected as a people with your dead. ”

“ For the last four or five years we have never heard of Sidney’s getting a revelation, but as soon as brother Joseph is out of the way, he can manufacture one to allure the people and destroy them. Now after he has given his testimony to the world; after finding fault with God because he happened to get into jail in Missouri; and because he was poor: yet this is the man that can get such wonderful revelations. Brother Parley and Brigham suffered in Missouri, but did not find fault with God; they don’t get such wonderful things. Now this is the man who has got the keys of conquest ”

“ The great John C. Bennet said at the conference when he first came here, that be sustained the same position to the first presidency, as the Holy Ghost does to the Father and Son. He now says that Rigdon is to take the presidency, and he is appointed to Elder Rigdon’s place. Now you see it is impossible for this people to go after them all. When Elder Rigdon was in Pittsburg he saw a great many things, and I dare venture to say, that when the news reaches him of your action to-day, it will bring another slice of his revelation; he no doubt saw it before he left Pittsburg. ”

“ President Young is our President, and our head, and he puts the shoes on first. If Brother Hyrum had remained here, he would have put them on.—Hyrum is gone with Joseph and is still his counsellor. The Twelve have received the keys of the kingdom and as long as there is one of them left, he will hold them in preference to any one else. I wish the people would hear and be wise, and those who have been upholding Brother Sidney, would turn about before they go into everlasting despair. ”

“ There will be men who cannot endure a celestial law, and consequently, they cannot obtain a celestial glory. Brother Sidney is endeavoring to draw off a party, and he will be like those who are spoken of in the vision: some for Paul, some for Apollos, some for Cephas, &c., and many will have to go to outer darkness and there tarry till they have paid the uttermost farthing. Is there one person here who wishes to barter away a certainty for an uncertainty and go to perdition? If any man comes to you to lay on hands suddenly, don’t suffer them to do it, lest ye be deceived. ”

“ There are some who would insinuate that we should be merciful; we have been as merciful as we could be in the fulfillment of our official duties. But if we pass over such gross violations of the ordinances of God’s house, and such departures from the revelations of God; if such ordinations and organizations are suffered to proceed, we shall, as a people, soon be destroyed. ”

“ The Twelve have already told their mind on the subject and have acted upon it. There is a curiosity connected with the revelation of this individual, who is so favored of heaven as to have gathered the rays of light from the upper world; intelligence and wonderful things, that other men never thought of. ”

“ I thought I would present to your view some things which have transpired since the death of our beloved Prophet and Patriarch, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, who were murdered by the mob. I was in New Haven when I first heard the news, but hardly crediting the report; I went from thence to New York, where I learned the same things, I then concluded I would start to Boston. When I arrived at Boston I met with President Young and one or two others of the Twelve. We held a council together and it was decided to write to Elder Rigdon at Pittsburg. ”

“ We wanted to sit in council together and felt that whatever the spirit dictated that should be our course. There is a way by which all revelations purporting to be from God through any man can be tested. Brother Joseph gave us the plan, says he, when all the quorums are assembled and organized in order, let the revelation be presented to the quorums, if it pass one let it go to another, and if it pass that, to another, and so on until it has passed al the quorums ”

“ I have been in church fellowship with him for 15 or 16 years. I was a member of the same church with him before we heard this gospel; I was the first man who presented the Book of Mormon to him, and bore testimony to him concerning the gospel. I witnessed his coming into this church, I have feelings for him as a friend of the strongest kind, and ever have felt an interest for him, I would be amongst the first to rejoice to see him walk up as a counsellor with us. ”

“ When any man comes here with a revelation purporting to be from God, we feel in duty bound to question its validity. This is a kind of furnace to prove all things, and Elder Rigdon dont like to come into the furnace. ”

“ When I had got the pledge from him I told the people that Thursday’s meeting would only be a prayer meeting. But after this some of the people went to him and he turned round again, and said it was a business meeting. I know that he said no business should be done at that meeting, and afterwards said it should be a business meeting. I then saw that this was a deep and cunning plan laid to divide the best people that ever lived. ”

“ He continued: honest men may be deceived for a time, but they will generally see their error and turn about. There are some who are strolling off and wanting to make divisions amongst us. Brother Sidney says, “if we go to opposing him he will tell all of our secrets.” But I would say, oh don’t, Brother Sidney! Don’t tell our secret, oh don’t! But if he tells of our secrets, we will tell of his—tit for tat. He has had long visions in Pittsburg revealing to him wonderful iniquity amongst the saints. Now if he knows of so much iniquity, and has got such wonderful power, why don’t he purge it out? ”

“ I see men in this congregation who have received illegal ordinations, ordinations imparted through a perversion of the priesthood, and through the influence of an improper spirit. Who wants to see their friends destroyed in this way? A man may receive a spirit in a few minutes, the which it will take him years to get entirely rid of. I don’t want any man with such a spirit to put his hands on my head, or on the head of any of my brethern. ”

“ He was determined not to let Brother Young pull the tings out of him. I presume the atmosphere did not feel very congenial to his spirit. After we had been and spent the evening with him last Tuesday and had concluded to demand his license, he then said he was going to publish the history of all the secrets of this church. I think if he don’t give a straighter history than he has given in his revelation, we shall not need to be at the trouble to go abroad and contradict it, for he will contradict himself. ”

“ I have been in all their councils since they returned home, I was with the brethern at Elder Rigdon’s last Tuesday, but I don’t know that I can do any thing more than confirm what they have said. They have related things as they transpired, as near as I can recollect, and I cannot do more than confirm their testimony. As to Elder Rigdon’s course there is scarce any one that can give a relation of it. Elder Rigdon is a man I have always respected as a man, but I have not respected his course for more than five years past.—Brethern, I have known his course and was aware of it all the while. ”

“ The shafts of the enemy are always aimed at the head first.—Brother Joseph said some time before he was murdered. “If I am taken away, upon you, the Twelve, will rest the responsibility of leading this people, and do not be bluffed off by any man. ”