“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” — Matthew 5:13¹

In June 1838, Sidney Rigdon delivered a fiery sermon, later known as the "Salt Sermon," condemning dissenters in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Drawing on language from the Sermon on the Mount, Rigdon compared these dissenters, including Church leaders to salt that had lost its savor and was therefore useless. Joseph Smith supported this open rebuke and urged the Saints to remain lawful, but Rigdon’s sermon emboldened a group known as the Danites to take more rash action.² Following the sermon, the Danites threatened and warned dissenters, including Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, W. W. Phelps, and Lyman Johnson, to leave Caldwell County or be forced out, prompting most of them to flee.³

1. Matthew 5:13

2. “Sidney Rigdon’s ‘Salt Sermon,’” josephsmithpapers.org; Saints, Volume 1, Chapter 27, 313-315

3. Editorial Note, Journal, March–September 1838, 45, josephsmithpapers.org