--- title: Times and Seasons description: Issues of 1841 to 1842. authors: - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints editors: - Ebenezer Robinson - Don Carlos Smith - Smith, Joseph, Jr. - Taylor, John collections: - periodicals tags: - newspaper - times-and-seasons - nauvoo - nineteenth-century periodical: Times and Seasons volume: 3 number: 22 published: 1842-09-15 publisher: E. Robinson and D. C. Smith; later John Taylor publisher_place: Commerce and Nauvoo, Illinois language: en type: article reference: "“Elder Rigdon, &c,” *Times and Seasons* 3, no. 22 (September 15, 1842): 922–923." printed_title: ELDER RIGDON, &C. source: url: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1842-09-15_3_22 transcription: Text from the Centerplace.org transcription (https://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v3n22.htm), with its page breaks; this Internet Archive scan is the reference copy (its OCR was used only as a witness for OCR repair) identifier: per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1842-09-15_3_22 start_page: 922 end_page: 923 curator_note: A Mormon newspaper published by the church in Nauvoo; included for historical study. Inclusion does not imply endorsement. rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1842 (Nauvoo, Illinois); published before 1931, so public domain in the United States source: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1842-09-15_3_22 publication_year: 1842 --- # Elder Rigdon, &c On one of the last Sabbath's in August, Elder Rigdon made his appearance on the stand, and though he was somewhat emaciated from ill health, brought upon him by the malignant persecutions of Missouri, yet to behold an old veteran in the cause of our Redeemer, rise to address a congregation of the saints, was at once animating. That face, from whence eloquence once flowed copiously, made a welcome appearance, in its place among the heads of Israel,-He was not upon the stand to renounce his faith in Mormonism, as had been variously stated by enemies and licentious presses, but appeared to bear his testimony of its truth, and add another to the many miraculous evidences of the power of God. Neither did he rise to deliver any regular discourse, but to unfold unto the audience a scene of deep interest, which had occurred in his own family. He had witnessed many instances of the power of God, in this church, but never before had he seen the dead raised: yet, this was a thing that had actually taken place in his own family: his daughter Eliza was dead;-the doctor told him that she was gone, when, after a certain length of time she rose up in the bed and spoke in a very powerful tone to the following effect, in a supernatural manner:-and said to the family that she was going to leave them, being impressed with the idea herself, that she had only come back to deliver her message, and then depart again:-saying the Lord had said to her the very words she should relate,-and so particular was she in her relation, that she would not suffer any person to leave out a word, or add one. She called the family around her and bade them all farewell, with a composure and calmness that defies all description:-still impressed with the idea that she was to go back. Up to the time of her death, she expressed a great unwillingness to die, but after her return, she expressed equally as strong a desire to go back. She said to her elder sister, Nancy, it is in your heart to deny this work, and if you do, the Lord says it will be the damnation of your soul. In speaking to her sister Sarah, she said, Sarah, we have but once to die, and I would rather die now than wait for another time. She said to her sisters, that the Lord had great blessings in store for them, if they continued in the faith; and after delivering her message she swooned but recovered again. During this time she was cold as when laid in the grave, and all the appearance of life, was the power of speech. She thus continued till the following evening, for the space of thirty six hours:-at which she called her father unto her bed and said to him, that the Lord had said to her, if he would cease weeping for his sick daughter, and dry up his tears, that he should have all the desires of his heart; and that if he would go to bed and rest, he should be comforted over his sick daughter, for in the morning she should be getting better, and should get well. That the Lord had said unto her, because that her father had dedicated her to God, and prayed to him for her, that he would give her back again. This ceremony of dedicating and praying, took place when she was struggling in death, and continued to the very moment of her departure; and she says the Lord told her, that it was because of this that she must go back again, though she herself desired to stay. She said concerning Geo. W. Robinson, as he had denied the faith, the Lord had taken away one of his eye-teeth, and unless he repented, he would take away another. And concerning Dr. Bennett, that he was a wicked man, and that the Lord would tread him under his feet. Such is a small portion of what she related. Elder Rigdon observed, that there had been many idle tales and reports abroad concerning him, stating that he had denied the faith, but he would take the opportunity to state that his faith was and had been denied unshaken in the truth. It has also been rumored that I believe that Joseph Smith is a fallen prophet:-In regard to this, I unequivocally state, that I never thought so-but declare that I know he is a prophet of the Lord, called and chosen in this last dispensation, to roll on the kingdom of God for the last time. He closed by saying, as it regards his religion, he had no controversy with the world, having an incontrovertible evidence, that through the obedience to the ordinances of the religion he now believes, the Lord had actually given back his daughter from the dead.-No person need therefore come to reason with him, to convince him of error, or make him believe another religion, unless those who profess it, can show that through obedience to its laws, the dead has been and can be raised;-if it has no such power, it would be insulting his feelings to ask him to reason about it. And if it had it would be no better than the one he had, and so he had done with controversy-wherefore, he dealt in facts, and not in theory.