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{{Short description|1838 speech by Mormon leader Sidney Rigdon}}
{{Distinguish|Rigdon's July 4 oration}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
[[File:SidneyRigdon.jpg|300px|thumbnail|right|Sidney Rigdon, deliverer of the "salt sermon"]]
The '''salt sermon''' was an oration delivered on 17 June 1838 by [[Sidney Rigdon]], then First Counselor in the [[First Presidency]] of the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]],<!--Please do not change to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This was the most commonly used rendering in 1838.  See MOS:LDS--><ref name="Jessee">{{Harvnb|Jessee|1989|pp=302–03}}</ref><ref name="Marquardt">{{Harvnb|Marquardt|Walters|1994|p=106}}</ref> and frequent spokesman for [[Joseph Smith]], the founder of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]], against church [[dissenter]]s, including [[Book of Mormon]] [[Three Witnesses|witnesses]] [[Oliver Cowdery]], [[David Whitmer]], and [[John Whitmer]], and other leaders including [[W. W. Phelps (Mormon)|W. W. Phelps]]. The Salt Sermon is often confused with [[Rigdon's July 4th oration]].

==Background==
{{see also|History of the Latter Day Saint movement#Movement in Ohio|l1=History of the Latter Day Saint movement:Kirtland}}
The years before 1838 were difficult<ref name="McKiernan">{{Harvnb|McKiernan|1970|pp=368–9}}</ref> for the members and leaders of [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]].<ref name="Jessee"/><ref name="Marquardt"/>  In 1837, Smith and Rigdon founded an "anti-bank" called the [[Kirtland Safety Society]]. When it failed much of the blame was laid upon Smith. Half of the [[Quorum of Twelve Apostles]] accused Smith of improprieties in the banking scandal.<ref name= "Anderson">{{Harvnb|Anderson|1989}}</ref>  [[LDS Church]] Apostle [[Heber C. Kimball]] would later say that the bank's failure was so shattering that afterwards "there were not twenty persons on earth that would declare that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God."<ref name= "Anderson"/> Smith's former secretary, [[Warren Parish]], along with [[Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)|Martin Harris]] and others, vied for control of the church in Kirtland, taking possession of the [[Kirtland Temple]], "[[Excommunication#The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|excommunicating]]"{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} Smith and Rigdon, and forcing Smith and Rigdon to relocate and establish a community at [[Far West, Missouri|Far West]], Missouri. They were followed there by hundreds of loyalists in a trek known as the "[[Kirtland Camp]]."

However, after fleeing from Kirtland, Smith faced continuing external persecutions, along with serious internal dissensions.<ref name= "Anderson"/> Smith and Rigdon became determined to extinguish this perceived apostasy in the church as they believed that the very entire future of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]] was at stake.<ref name="McKiernan"/> Due to Rigdon's ability to sway audiences, he became Smith's spokesman in an attempt to promote [[Orthodoxy|church orthodoxy]],<ref name= "Anderson"/> and as a result Rigdon also became symbol of the militancy of the church in [[Far West, Missouri|Far West]].<ref name="McKiernan"/>

==Sermon==
On 17 June 1838, in Far West, Rigdon delivered a harsh public condemnation of a large number of the members and leaders of the church for their perceived disloyalty towards Smith and Rigdon.<ref name="McKiernan"/><ref name="Quinn">{{Harvnb|Quinn|1994}}</ref> While no summary or text of Rigdon's sermon remains, eyewitnesses indicated that Rigdon took the subject of his text from the fifth chapter of the [[Gospel of Matthew]].

{{blockquote|If the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.|sign={{lds|Matthew|matt|5|13}}}}

According to Rigdon, the dissenters were like the "salt" spoken of by [[Jesus]] (part of the metaphors of [[salt and light]] in the [[Sermon on the Mount]]) and must be "trodden under foot".<ref name=Quinn/>

Rigdon was then followed by Smith with a short speech, in which he seemingly sanctioned what Rigdon had said.<ref name="McKiernan"/>

==Response==
{{see also|Danites}}
The Salt Sermon caused a great deal of demand to purge the church of any disloyal members. This included the formation of the seemingly unauthorized [[Danites]], a secret militant society for the enforcement of church orthodoxy.<ref name=Quinn/> Two days after Rigdon sermon, eighty Latter Day Saints signed a statement (the so-called [[Danite|Danite Manifesto]]) warning the dissenters to "depart, or a more fatal calamity shall befall you."<ref name=Quinn/>  According to [[John Corrill]], an early church member and leader,

{{blockquote|...the first presidency did not seem to have much to do with [the Danites] at first", [but] some of the Danites clearly saw the salt sermon as a sign of approval.<ref name="Corrill|1839|p=31">{{Harvnb|Corrill|1839|pp=31,218}}</ref>}}

Corrill stated that "although [Rigdon] did not give names in his sermon, yet it was plainly understood that he meant the dissenters or those who had denied the faith."<ref name="Corrill|1839|p=31"/> The dissenters and their families interpreted these words as threats, and they quickly left [[Caldwell County, Missouri]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Gentry|1974|p=2}}</ref> Their stories helped stir up [[anti-Mormon]] feeling in northwestern Missouri and contributed to the outbreak of the [[Mormon War (1838)|1838 Mormon War]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Bushman|2005|pp=349–53}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Latter Day Saints|Latter Day Saint movement}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
*{{Citation
 | last = Anderson
 | first = Karl R.
 | title = Joseph Smith's Kirtland: Eyewitness Accounts
 | year = 1989
 | publisher=Deseret Book Company
 | location=Salt Lake City, Utah
 | isbn=0875792014
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZKjtAAAAMAAJ&q=Joseph%20Smith%27s%20Kirtland%3A%20Eyewitness%20Accounts
 | accessdate=8 September 2015
 }}
*{{Citation
 | last =Bushman 
 | first = Richard Lyman
| authorlink = Richard Lyman Bushman
 | title = [[Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling]]
 | year = 2005
 | publisher= Alfred A. Knopf
 | location= New York
 | isbn= 1-4000-4270-4
 }}
*{{Citation
 | last = Corrill
 | first = John
 | authorlink = John Corrill
 | title = A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Commonly Called Mormons)
 | publisher = Privately printed for the author
 | location = St. Louis
 | year = 1839
 | oclc = 18071277
 }}
*{{Citation
 | last = Gentry
 | first = Leland H
 | title = The Danite Band of 1838
 | journal = [[BYU Studies]]
 | volume = 14
 | issue = 4
 | publisher = [[Brigham Young University]]
 | location = Provo, Utah
 | year = 1974
 | url = http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/byustudies&CISOPTR=460&REC=6
 }}
*{{Citation
 |first             = Dean C.
 |last              = Jessee
 |author-link       = Dean C. Jessee
 |year              = 1989
 |title             = The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings
 |volume            = 1 (reproduced from ''Manuscript History of the Church'', LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37;)
 |url               = https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=8771
 |publisher         = Deseret Book
 |location          = Salt Lake City, Utah
 |isbn              = 0875791999
 |url-status        = dead
 |archive-url       = https://web.archive.org/web/20111107160725/http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=8771
 |archive-date      = 7 November 2011
}} 
*{{Citation
 |first1             = H. Michael
 |last1              = Marquardt
 |author-link       = H. Michael Marquardt
 |first2            = Wesley P.
 |last2             = Walters
 |year              = 1994
 |title             = Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record
 |url               = http://signaturebooks.com/2010/02/inventing-mormonism-tradition-and-the-historical-record/
 |archive-url       = https://web.archive.org/web/20120222230416/http://signaturebooks.com/2010/02/inventing-mormonism-tradition-and-the-historical-record/
 |url-status          = dead
 |archive-date      = 2012-02-22
 |publisher         = Signature Books
 |location = Salt Lake City, Utah
 |isbn              = 1560851082
}}
*{{Citation
 |last              = McKiernan
 |first             = Mark F.
 |date              = 1970
 |title             = Sidney Rigdon's Fourth of July [1838] Oration
 |journal           = The Historians Corner
 |volume            = 11
 |issue             = 1
 |publisher         = [[BYU Studies]]
 |location = Provo, Utah
 |url               = http://burton.byu.edu/courses/368/RigdonBackground.pdf
 |access-date        = 8 September 2015
 |url-status           = dead
 |archive-url        = https://web.archive.org/web/20060902111643/http://burton.byu.edu/courses/368/RigdonBackground.pdf
 |archive-date       = 2 September 2006
}}
*{{Citation
| first  = D. Michael
| last    = Quinn
| author-link  = D. Michael Quinn
| year     = 1994
| title    = The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power
| url     = http://signaturebooks.com/the-mormon-hierarchy-origins-of-power/
| publisher = [[Signature Books]]
| location = Salt Lake City, Utah
| isbn = 1560850566
}}
*{{Citation
| last1    = Young
| first1   = Brigham
| author-link  = Brigham Young
| last2    = Kimball
| first2   = Heber C.
| author-link2  = Heber C. Kimball
| last3    = Grant
| first3   = Jedediah M.
| author-link3  = Jedediah M. Grant
| last4    = The Twelve Apostles
| author-link4    = Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)
| others= Reported by G.D. Watt
| date     = 1857
| title    = Journal of Discourses
| url = http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/JournalOfDiscourses3/id/9596
| chapter  = Emigration--The Saints Warned to Repent or Judgments Will Come Upon Them
| chapter-url  = http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/JournalOfDiscourses3/id/651
| volume  = 4
| publisher = Latter-Day Saints' Book Depot
| location = Liverpool, England
| accessdate = 8 September 2015
| isbn = 5878682931
}}

{{Mormon War}}

[[Category:1838 in Missouri]]
[[Category:1838 Mormon War]]
[[Category:1830s speeches]]
[[Category:1838 works]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saint sermons]]
[[Category:Sidney Rigdon]]
[[Category:June 1838]]