Refers to Sidney Rigdon, whom the Lord, in a revelation given October 12, 1833, promised to ordain "to be a spokesman to my servant Joseph." (D. and C. 100:9.) Joseph was to be mighty in testimony, and Sidney in expounding all scriptures. Joseph was to be the revelator, Sidney the spokesman.
Immediately after the martyrdom, Sidney Rigdon asked for the guardianship of the Church on the ground of this appointment ("Essentials of Church History," Joseph Fielding Smith, p. 387), forgetting that his office of spokesman to Joseph Smith necessarily ended with the death of the Prophet.