J. M. Grant's RIGDON/To the Reader

TO THE READER

PLEASE read this before you proceed; by so doing you will save time, and comprehend more perfectly the contents of the following pages.

PART I contains some facts which did not come under my observation, as they occurred before my acquaintance with Elder Rigdon; you will therefore understand that men of the strictest veracity have written and related the same to me, as they witnessed them when they transpired.

After the summer of 1833, you will please consider me a witness, with others, of the course taken by Elder Rigdon, in Ohio. All the circumstances in PART II that I did not witness, have been related to me by those whose words I rely on with the same confidence that I rely on the uniformity of the course of nature.

In the same light you may read PART III.

PART IV contains a collection of important facts, taken from the statements of men whose words may be relied on with the most implicit confidence. I have before me the testimony of a highly respectable gentleman of the State of Delaware, who was taken into one of the secret meetings held in the city of Nauvoo, at which time four men were ordained, under the hands of Elder Rigdon, to be Prophets, Priests and Kings unto the Gentiles, the same witness relates the titles claimed by Elder Rigdon, also the facts relating to the Army, Officers, &c. In the testimony given at the trial you will find the same subject carried out.

PART V. shows the disordered state of Mr. Rigdon’s mind, his course, &c. It will be for the candid reader to judge, whether the facts collected justify the conclusion or not.

J.M.G.