Macandrew records that Sirgood was accused of saying "all parsons should go to hell" but he denied this libel, although he did write that "parsons were wicked men" who were to his mind "worse than highwaymen". Sirgood replied to his landlord, a magistrate and a member of parliament, advising the man that the fewer properties he owned, the more he would be free from "care, anxiety and responsibillity". Various sources contend that the bolshie evangelist had "socialistic" tendencies but the Dependents appear to have been a spiritual movement rather than a political one.
Macandrew records that Sirgood was accused of making a derogatory statement about all clergy but he denied this accusation, although he did express his opinion that clergy were morally corrupt individuals who, in his view, "were more reprehensible than common thieves". Sirgood responded to his landlord, a respected authority figure, suggesting that the fewer properties he owned, the less he would be weighed down by "worries, concerns and duties".