In his journal for November 19, 1833, Joseph Smith offered the following assessment of Sidney Rigdon:
Brother <Sidney [Rigdon]> is
a man whom I love but is not capab[le] of that pure and stedfast love for those
who are his benefactors as should posess possess the breast of an man
a Presedent of the chu[r]ch of Christ this with some other little things
such as a selfish and indipendance of mind which to[o] often manifest distroys
the confidence of those who would lay down their lives for him but
notwithstanding these things he is <a> very great and good man a man of
great power of words and can <gain> the friendship of his hearrers very
quick he is a man whom god will uphold if he will continue faithful to his
calling O God grant that he may for the Lords sake Amen
In
his blessing to Sidney Rigdon on October 2, 1835, Joseph Smith said the
following:
Blessed of the Lord is brother
Sidney [Rigdon]: notwithstanding he shall be high and lifted up, yet he will
humble himself like an ass that coucheth beneath his burden, that learneth his
master’s will by the stroke of the rod, thus saith the Lord. Yet the Lord will
have mercy on him, and he shall bring forth much fruit, even as the vine of the
choice grape, before the time of the gleaning of the vintage, and the Lord
shall make his heart merry as with sweet wine because of him who putteth forth
his hand and and lifteth him up out of deep mire and pointeth him out the way
and guideth his feet when he stumbles, and humbleth him in his pride. Blessed
are his generations: nevertheless, one shall hunt after them as as a man
hunteth after an ass that is strayed in the wilderness and straitway findeth
him and bringeth him into the fold: and thus shall the Lord watch over his
generations that they may be saved. A spokesman unto the Lord shall he be all
the days of his life; and it shall come to pass that he shall hold the rod as
of Aaron, in his right hand. He shall be called blessed, and his name shall be
held sacred among all nations. He shall be called to stand before kings
<governors> and rulers, and among the nobles and the great ones of the
earth: and there shall be no greater, in this generation, for the Lord shall
reveal unto the Seer of Israel, and he shall declare it. And his testimony
shall be borne off triumphantly victorious. He shall put to flight and to shame
his enemies, who have endeavored to hold him in bondage: he shall live to see
them wasted out of the earth, and he shall walk proudly upon their
places of their dead. He shall never be disgraced in his generations, but they
shall rise up and do honor to his name; and his name shall be had among them as
a sweet memorial, from generation to generation, forever. And it shall come to
pass that he shall sit in council with the Ancient of Days. He shall see with
his eyes, and hear with his ears, and handle with his hands of this <the>
word of life, and shall say, I am satisfied, my soul doth magnify God. Great
and numberless are the multiplicity of blessings which shall be poured out upon
the head of brother Sidney. He shall have abundance of the good things of this
earth, because of the nobility of his soul, and his liberality to the poor. He
shall not decrease, but increase an hundred fold, in houses and in lands, and
in the increase of his fields, and of all that he hath: And his mind shall
never fail, neither his understanding unto the end; even so. Amen
As Gilbert Scharffs noted, "Sidney’s later apostasy and the fact that he did not become President of the Church even though he tried very hard are significant."
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