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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35556.txt b/35556.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba62249 --- /dev/null +++ b/35556.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4831 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Succession in the Presidency of The Church +of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by B. H. Roberts + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Succession in the Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints + +Author: B. H. Roberts + +Release Date: March 11, 2011 [EBook #35556] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRESIDENCY OF CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST *** + + + + +Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, +http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Benjamin +Bytheway, Jean-Michel Carter, Ben Crowder, Meridith Crowder, +Cameron Dixon, Eric Heaps. + + + + + +SUCCESSION +IN THE +PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH +OF +JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. + + +By ELDER B. H. ROBERTS, + +_Author of The Life of John Taylor, Outlines of Ecclesiastical +History, The Gospel_. + + +The keys of this kingdom shall never be taken from you while thou art +in the world, neither in the world to come; nevertheless, through you +shall the oracles be given to another--even to the Church,--_The Lord +to Joseph Smith_, Doc. and Cov., sec. xc. + + +SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. +THE DESERET NEWS PUBLISHING COMPANY. +1894. + + + + +Copyright applied for +February, 1894. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The fact that many honest people in the United States and other +countries are being led astray by the pretensions of the "Reorganized +Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," or "Josephite Church," +as it is more commonly called, must justify the publication of this +work. My desire to preserve from error those not acquainted with the +order of the priesthood of God, and the facts of church history in the +great dispensation of the last days, has been the incentive which +prompted me to write it. Moreover, though the facts of church history +which of themselves disprove the claims of the "Josephite Church," are +abundant, yet are they scattered through the church works in such a +manner as to make it exceedingly difficult for the Elders of the +church to consult them; and, therefore, the writer believes he is +doing a service to those Elders who are and shall hereafter be engaged +in the ministry, especially to those who travel in the localities +where they will come in contact with "Josephite" pretensions--by +publishing this treatise on the SUCCESSION IN THE PRESIDENCY OF THE +CHURCH. + +I have endeavored to treat the theme on as broad a basis as possible, +and have avoided technical disputes with our opponents, which only +serve to burden the subject with matter that is not only unprofitable +in itself, but wearying to the patience of the reader. Nor does the +successful issue of our argument demand that we stop to contend over +every error, either in history or argument, made by "Josephites." Did +we attempt it, our task would be endless. An attorney being called +upon to explain why his absent client should not be punished for +contempt of court, told the judge he could assign several good reasons +for the absence of his client--reasons which he hoped and believed +would clear him, even in the opinion of the judge, of any intention to +treat the court with disrespect. "You may name them," gruffly said the +judge. "Well, then, your honor, in the first place my client is dead; +and in the second place--" "Never mind your 'in the second place,'" +said the judge, "if the man is dead that is sufficient--the court +dismisses the case." So with this controversy; there being a few +leading facts of church history, and a principle or two connected with +the order of the priesthood which, if considered in the light of right +reason, dispose of all the claims made by "Josephites," it is not +necessary to consider their quibbles and all the details of their +sophistry. + +The writer is under deep obligation to acknowledge assistance he has +received from a number of prominent brethren; to some for placing at +his disposal books and papers, and to others for reading the work from +the manuscript and greatly improving it by their invaluable +suggestions. The brethren who have thus rendered me assistance are too +numerous to mention by name, and it would be unfair to name a few +only, when the writer is indebted to so many and to each equally. The +consciousness of having assisted in a work which is designed to carry +enlightenment to many in regard to so important a matter as the +subject of this writing, will reward them for their labors. + + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +SUCCESSION +IN THE +PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH. + + +I. + + +_All that want to draw away a party from the Church after them, let +them do it if they can, but they will not prosper_.[A] + +[Footnote A: From Brigham Young's speech, at a special Conference in +Nauvoo, August 8th, 1844, the conference being convened to consider +the claims of Sidney Rigdon to be the Guardian of the Church.--_Mill. +Star_, Vol. XXV, p. 216.] + +When the Prophet Joseph Smith fell a martyr at Carthage, Illinois, on +the 27th of June, 1844, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day +Saints was deprived of its President. As that was a condition which +had never existed before in this dispensation, and one that the church +had not anticipated, the question very naturally arose: Upon what +person or quorum devolved the responsibility of leadership--of +Presidency? It is a matter of astonishment that so many arose as +claimants for the position; but it reveals the vanity and weakness of +human nature which in its love of power looks clear beyond the +responsibilities in the case, and seeks only for that position which +exalts its possessor above his fellows. + +Among the many who claimed to be the legal successor to the prophet +Joseph, and, indeed, the first, was Sidney Rigdon, the only remaining +counselor in the First Presidency. Hyrum Smith, the other counselor to +the prophet, had nobly suffered martyrdom with him at Carthage. At the +time of the martyrdom of Presidents Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Sidney +Rigdon was living at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, presiding over the +branch of the church and preaching the gospel at that place. He had +removed from Nauvoo to Pittsburg, in opposition to a revelation from +God which required him to make his home in Nauvoo, and stand in his +office and calling of counselor and spokesman to the prophet +Joseph.[A] + +[Footnote A: The revelation was given 19th January, 1841.--Doc. and +Cov., Sec. cxxiv 103-106.] + +The truth is that from the expulsion of the saints from Missouri in +1838-9, Sidney Rigdon had been of but little service either to the +church or to the prophet as a counselor. He was a man of admitted +ability as an orator, but lacked discretion; a man of fervid +imagination, but of inferior judgment; ambitious of place and honor, +but without that steadiness of purpose and other qualities of soul +which in time secure them. In the early years of the church he +suffered much for the cause of God, but he also complained much; +especially was this the case in respect to the hardships he endured in +Missouri; and subsequently of his poverty and illness at Nauvoo. This +habit of complaining doubtless did much to deprive him of the spirit +of the Lord; for at times it bordered upon blasphemy. More than once +he was heard to say that Jesus Christ was a fool in suffering as +compared with himself! Having lost, in part at least, the spirit of +the Lord, his interest in the church and its work waned, and after the +settlement at Nauvoo he was seldom seen in the councils of the +priesthood. Moreover, it was known that he was in sympathy and even in +communication with some of the avowed enemies of Joseph, among others +with that arch traitor, John C. Bennett, who was plotting the +overthrow of both Joseph and the church. It was doubtless these +considerations which led Joseph to make an effort to get rid of Sidney +Rigdon as counselor, at the October conference in 1843. + +On that occasion the prophet represented to the church that such had +been the course of Sidney Rigdon that he considered it no longer his +duty to sustain him as his counselor. Hyrum Smith, however, pleaded +the cause of his fellow counselor, and so strongly urged the saints to +deal mercifully with Sidney Rigdon, that when the question of +sustaining him was presented to the conference, the saints voted in +his favor. "I have thrown him off my shoulders, and you have again put +him on me," said Joseph. "You may carry him, but I will not." And so +confident was he that Sidney Rigdon would continue to fail in the +performance of his duty, that he ordained Elder Amasa Lyman to succeed +him, both as counselor and spokesman. "Some of the Elders did not +understand how Elder Lyman could be ordained to succeed Elder Rigdon, +as the church had voted to try him another year. Elder Joseph Smith +was requested to give an explanation. 'Why,' said he, 'by the same +rule that Samuel anointed David to be king over Israel, while Saul was +yet crowned. Please read the 16th chapter of I Samuel.' Elder Smith's +explanation, though short, proved a quietus to all their rising +conjectures."[A] + +[Footnote A: Tract on Sidney Rigdon, by Jedediah M. Grant, pp. 15, +16.] + +Notwithstanding all his fair promises of amendment, Sidney Rigdon +continued neglectful of his high duties, and if for a time his +old-time enthusiasm revived--as it seemed to at the April conference +following, it was as the flickering flame of a tallow dip, only--not +the steady rays of the ever-shining sun. He longed to return to the +east; and notwithstanding the word of the Lord commanding him to make +his home at Nauvoo, he frequently talked with Joseph about going to +Pittsburg to live, and finally obtained his consent to go there, and +take his family with him. He was instructed to preach, write and build +up the church in that city. + +Such was the standing and course of the man who after the martyrdom of +the prophet Joseph was the first to claim the right to lead the +church! He made all haste to Nauvoo, and ignoring the members of the +quorum of the Twelve who were in the city--Elders Willard Richards, +John Taylor, and Parley P. Pratt--he conferred with Elder William +Marks, president of the Stake of Nauvoo, and at once began agitating +the question of appointing a "Guardian" to the church. He arrived in +Nauvoo on Saturday, the 3rd of August; next day he harangued the +saints who assembled in the grove near the temple, upon the necessity +of appointing a "Guardian" to build up the church to the martyred +prophet, and in the afternoon meeting urged William Marks to make a +special appointment for the saints to assemble on the following +Tuesday for that purpose. Elder Marks was in sympathy with Sidney +Rigdon, but for some reason he refused to make the appointment for +Tuesday, but made it for Thursday, the 8th of August. This was a most +fortunate circumstance, since a sufficient number of the Twelve to +make a majority of that quorum arrived on the evening of the 6th, and, +of course, they were in time to be present at the meeting to be held +on the 8th. The day previous to that meeting, however, the Twelve +called a meeting of the high council and high priests, before which +they called on Sidney Rigdon to make a statement of his purposes and +relate the revelation he claimed to have received at Pittsburg, which +prompted his journey to Nauvoo. In substance he replied that the +object of his visit was to offer himself to the saints as a +"Guardian;" that it had been shown to him in vision at Pittsburg, that +the church must be built up to Joseph the martyr; that all the +blessings the saints could receive would come through their late +prophet; that no man could be a successor to Joseph; that the church +was not disorganized, though the head was gone; that he had been +commanded to come to Nauvoo and see that the church was governed +properly, and propose himself to be a "Guardian" to the people.[A] + +[Footnote A: Hist. Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XXV, 215.] + +To this Elder Brigham Young replied: + + I do not care who leads this Church, even though it were Ann Lee; + but one thing I must know, and that is what God says about it. I + have the keys and the means of obtaining the mind of God on the + subject. . . . Joseph conferred upon our heads all the keys and + powers belonging to the apostleship which he himself held before + he was taken away, and no man nor set of men can get between + Joseph and the Twelve in this world or in the world to come. How + often has Joseph said to the Twelve, I have laid the foundation + and you must build thereon, for upon your shoulders the kingdom + rests.[A] + +[Footnote A: History of Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XXV., 215.] + +The next day was the one appointed by Sidney Rigdon for the church to +assemble and choose a "Guardian." The attendance was large, as intense +interest had been awakened upon the subject to be considered. Sidney +Rigdon addressed the assembly, setting forth his claim to the +"Guardianship" of the church. He had full opportunity to present his +case, and for an hour and a half spoke without interruption; but +despite his reputation as an orator, he failed to convince the saints +that he was sent of God. + +As soon as Sidney Rigdon closed his speech, Elder Brigham Young arose +and made a few remarks. It was on that occasion that he was +transfigured before the people, so that through him the saints heard +the voice and felt the presence of their departed leader. George Q. +Cannon, who was present on that occasion, says: + + If Joseph had risen from the dead and again spoken in their + hearing, the effect could not have been more startling than it was + to many present at that meeting; it was the voice of Joseph + himself; and not only was it the voice of Joseph which was heard, + but it seemed in the eyes of the people as if it were the very + person of Joseph which stood before them. A more wonderful and + miraculous event than was wrought that day in the presence of that + congregation we never heard of.[A] + +[Footnote A: Life of Brigham Young (Tullidge) p. 115. Continuing the +subject President Cannon says: "The Lord gave his people a testimony +that left no room for doubt as to who was the man chosen to lead them. +They both saw and heard with their natural eyes and ears, and then the +words which were uttered came, accompanied by the convincing power of +God, to their hearts, and they were filled with the Spirit and with +great joy. There had been gloom, and in some hearts probably, doubt +and uncertainty; but now it was plain to all that here was the man +upon whom the Lord had bestowed the necessary authority to act in +their midst in Joseph's stead. On that occasion Brigham Young seemed +to be transformed, and a change such as that we read of in the +Scriptures as happening to the Prophet Elisha, when Elijah was +translated in his presence, seemed to have taken place with him. The +mantle of the Prophet Joseph had been left for Brigham Young. . . . . +The people said one to another: 'The Spirit of Joseph rests on +Brigham;' they knew that he was the man chosen to lead them, and they +honored him accordingly. . . . . As far as our observation went (we +were only a boy at the time), the people were divided into three +classes from the time of the death of Joseph up to this meeting of +which we speak. One class felt clearly and understandingly that +President Brigham Young was the man whose right it was to preside, he +being the President of the Twelve Apostles, and that body being, +through the death of Joseph and Hyrum, the presiding quorum of the +Church. Another class were not quite clear as to who would be called +to preside; but they felt very certain that Sidney Rigdon was not the +man. They did not believe that God would choose a coward and traitor +to lead his people, to both of which characters they believed Rigdon +had a claim. The third class, and we think its members were few, was +composed of those who had no clear views one way or the other. They +were undecided in their feelings. . . . . With very few exceptions, +then, the people returned to their homes from that meeting filled with +great rejoicing. All uncertainty and anxiety were removed. They had +heard the voice of the Shepherd and they knew it."] + +In the journal of Elder Wm. C. Staines, of that date, the following +statement is recorded: + + Brigham Young said--"I will tell you who your leaders or guardians + will be. The Twelve--I at their head!' This was with a voice like + the voice of the prophet Joseph. I thought it was he, and so did + thousands who heard it. This was very satisfactory to the people, + and a vote was taken to sustain the Twelve in their office, which, + with a few dissenting voices, was passed." + +President Wilford Woodruff, describing the event, says: + + When Brigham Young arose and commenced speaking, as has been + said,[A] if I had not seen him with my own eyes, there is no one + that could have convinced me that it was not Joseph Smith; and + anyone can testify to this who was acquainted with these two men. + +[Footnote A: The above remark of President Woodruff's is taken from a +testimony of his following a discourse on the subject of Priesthood +and the Right of Succession, delivered by the writer of this +pamphlet.--See _Deseret Evening News_, March 12th, 1892.] + +The remarks of Elder Young, during which he was transfigured before +the people, closed the forenoon meeting. When in the afternoon the +church again assembled and Elder Young addressed them at some length +on the subject of appointing a leader for the church, representing the +claims of the Twelve as the quorum having the right to act in the +absence of the late prophet-president. Following are some quotations +from a summary of his speech taken down at the time: + + For the first time in my life, for the first time in your lives, + for the first time in the kingdom of God, in the nineteenth + century, without a prophet at our head, do I step forth to act in + my calling in connection with the quorum of the Twelve, as + Apostles of Jesus Christ unto this generation--Apostles whom God + has called by revelation through the prophet Joseph, who are + ordained and anointed to bear off the keys of the kingdom of God + in all the world. + + . . . . If any man thinks he has influence among this people, to + lead away a party, let him try it, and he will find out that there + is power with the Apostles, which will carry them off victorious + through all the world, and build up and defend the church and + kingdom of God. + + . . . If the people want President Rigdon to lead them, they may + have him; but I say unto you that the quorum of the Twelve have + the keys of the kingdom of God in all the world. The Twelve are + appointed by the finger of God. Here is Brigham, have his knees + ever faltered? have his lips ever quivered? Here is Heber,[A] and + the rest of the Twelve, an independent body, who have the keys of + the priesthood--the keys of the kingdom of God--to deliver to all + the world; this is true, so help me God. They stand next to + Joseph, and are as the First Presidency of the Church. + +[Footnote A: Heber C. Kimball.] + + . . . . You must not appoint any man at our head; if you should, + the Twelve must ordain him. You cannot appoint a man at our head; + but if you do want any other man or men to lead you, take them, + and we will go our way to build up the kingdom in all the world, + + . . . . Brother Joseph, the prophet, has laid the foundation for a + grand work, and we will build upon it; you have never seen the + quorums built one upon another. There is an almighty foundation + laid, and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in the + world: we can build a kingdom faster than Satan can kill the + saints off. + + . . . . Now, if you want Sidney Rigdon or Wm. Law[A] to lead you, + or anybody else, you are welcome to them; but I tell you, in the + name of the Lord, that no man can put another between the Twelve + and the prophet Joseph. Why? Because Joseph was their file leader, + and he has committed into their hands the keys of the kingdom in + this last dispensation, for all the world; don't put a thread + between the priesthood and God.[B] + +[Footnote A: Wm. Law had been a counselor to the Prophet Joseph, but +was found in transgression and apostasy, had been excommunicated, and +was among those who brought about the martyrdom at Carthage.] + +[Footnote B: _Mill. Star_, Vol. XXV., pp. 216, 231-2, 3.] + +Elder Amasa Lyman spoke in support of the Twelve; and then Sidney +Rigdon was granted the privilege of speaking; he declined personally, +but called on Elder W. W. Phelps to speak in his behalf. Elder Phelps +while evidently sympathizing with Elder Rigdon, supported the claims +of the Twelve. After further discussion Elder Young arose to put the +question as to whether the church would sustain the Twelve or Sidney +Rigdon: + + I do not ask you to take my counsel or advice alone, but every one + of you act for yourselves; but if Brother Rigdon is the person you + want to lead you, vote for him, but not unless you intend to + follow him and support him as you did Joseph. . . . . And I would + say the same for the Twelve, don't make a covenant to support them + unless you intend to abide by their counsel. . . . . . I want + every man, before he enters into a covenant, to know what he is + going to do; but we want to know if this people will support the + priesthood in the name of Israel's God. If you say you will, do + so.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Mill. Star_, Vol. XXV,. p. 264.] + +Elder Young was then about to put the question to the assembled +quorums as to whether they wanted Elder Rigdon for a leader, when, at +the request of the latter, the question on supporting the Twelve as +the presiding quorum in the church was first put in the following +manner: + + "Do the Church want and is it their only desire to sustain the + Twelve as the First Presidency of this people? . . . . . If the + Church want the Twelve to stand as the head, the First Presidency + of the Church, and at the head of this kingdom in all the world, + stand next to Joseph, walk up into their calling, and hold the + keys of this kingdom--every man, every woman, every quorum is now + put in order, and you are now the sole controllers of it--all that + are in favor of this in all the congregation of the Saints, + manifest it by holding up the right hand. (There was a universal + vote.) If there are any of the contrary mind--every man and every + woman who does not want the Twelve to preside, lift up your hands + in like manner. (No hands up.) This supersedes the other + question,[A] and trying it by quorums."[B] + +[Footnote A: That is, whether the church wanted to have Sidney Rigdon +for a "guardian" or leader.] + +[Footnote B: The quorums had been arranged to vote separately and in +their order, but when Elder Young put the question on accepting the +Twelve to preside over the church, the question was put to all the +quorums and the whole congregation at once. And since the vote to +sustain the Twelve was unanimous, there was no need of putting the +question on the acceptance of Sidney Rigdon either to the quorums or +the people.--The facts in the text are quoted from the history of the +prophet Joseph, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XXV., p. 264.] + +This disposed of Sidney Rigdon. He had full opportunity to present his +case before the church. The saints had full opportunity and liberty to +vote for him had they wanted him for their leader; but they rejected +him and sustained the Twelve. + +I have been careful to deal with this case of Sidney Rigdon's in so +great detail, for the reason that it exhibits in operation a very +important principle, viz., that of "common consent" or the "voice of +the people" in electing their leaders. I use the word "elect" +advisedly, for though the manner of electing the officers of the +church is by indirect means--by popular acceptance--the elective +principle is nevertheless operative, since men proposed for office +cannot act unless the people vote to sustain them.[A] The law of the +church in this matter is: + +[Footnote A: The elective principle is not only carried out by direct +means, it may be carried on by indirect means--it is just as much a +fact under the form of popular acceptance as of popular +choice.--_Cuizot_.] + + No person is to be ordained to any office in this Church, where + there is a regularly organized branch of the same, without the + vote of that Church.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., sec. xx, 65.] + +This law applies to the First Presidency as well as to the humblest +officer in the church: + + Of the Melchisedek Priesthood, three presiding High Priests, + chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and + upheld by the confidence, faith and prayer of the Church, from a + quorum of the Presidency of the Church.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. cvii, 22.] + +It is not enough that the men constituting the First Presidency of the +church be "appointed and ordained to that office;" they must also be +"chosen by the body" and "upheld by the confidence, faith and prayer +of the church." President Brigham Young on this subject says: + + Joseph presided over the Church by the voice of the people. . . . + Does a man's being a Prophet in this Church prove that he shall be + the President of it? I answer, no. A man may be a prophet, seer + and revelator, and it may have nothing to do with his being + President of the Church. Suffice it to say that Joseph was the + President of the Church, so long as he lived. The people chose to + have it so. He always filled that responsible station by the voice + of the people. . . . . The keys of the priesthood were committed + to Joseph to build up the kingdom of God on the earth, and were + not to be taken from him in time or in eternity; but when he was + called to preside over the Church, it was by the voice of the + people, though he held the keys of the priesthood independent of + their voice.[A] + +[Footnote A: Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, p. 133.] + +But, mark you, he did not hold the power to preside over them contrary +to their voices, that is, contrary to their consent. President Taylor +says: + + It is by the voice of God and the voice of the people that our + present President [Brigham Young] obtained his authority. He + obtained his authority first from God, and secondly from the + people; and if a man possesses five grains of common sense, when + he has the privilege of voting for or against a man, he will not + vote for a man who will oppress the people; he will vote according + to the dictates of his conscience; for this is the right and duty + of this people in the choice of their President and other leading + officers of the kingdom of God.[A] + +[Footnote A: Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, p. 229.] + +Thus in ecclesiastical as in civil government it is true that +governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. +We shall have occasion in the course of our argument, to recur to this +principle and its importance in respect to the subject treated in this +writing. + +It may be interesting to the reader to know that Sidney Rigdon himself +outwardly seemed to acquiesce in the decision of the church with +regard to himself. The Sunday following the meeting above described he +addressed the saints for a long time, blessed them in the name of the +Lord; telling them emphatically that he was with the Twelve. He wished +to know the mind of the church in relation to his returning to +Pittsburg, they said, "go in peace."[A] Yet all the while he was thus +seemingly accepting the decision of the church and seeking its +counsel, secretly he was holding meetings with men of questionable +integrity in the church, telling them that it was revealed to him +before leaving Pittsburg that the church would reject him; but, +nevertheless, he was the proper person to lead the church--to be its +Guardian; for to that position he had been called of God, and held +keys of authority higher than any ever conferred upon the Prophet +Joseph--the keys of David which, according to his representations, +gave him the power to open and no man could shut; to shut and no man +could open; and the power to organize armies for the destruction of +the Gentiles. In fact his fervid imagination pictured himself a great +military chieftain, by whose prowess all the enemies of God were to be +subdued. He secretly ordained men to be prophets, priests and kings to +the Gentiles. He also chose and appointed military officers to take +command of the armies that were to be raised ere long to fight the +battles of the great God. Meantime, while he in public had spoken of +the virtues and honor of the martyred prophets, Joseph and Hyrum, in +the highest terms, in his secret meetings he began to cast reflections +upon their conduct, and hint at the existence of grave iniquity among +the Twelve and in the church. + +[Footnote A: Pamphlet on Sidney Rigdon, by Elder J. M. Grant, p. 18.] + +As soon as the Twelve learned of these proceedings on the part of +Elder Rigdon, they called upon him to explain by what authority he +held secret meetings and ordained men to the aforesaid offices. He +sought to evade the question, but finding that he was dealing with men +not to be trifled with he at last confessed to both holding the +meetings and ordaining the officers. His brethren sought to convince +him of his error, but at this point he refused to be corrected. The +quorum of the Twelve, with the presiding bishop of the church, held a +council meeting to consider his conduct, and concluded to demand Elder +Rigdon's license. He refused to surrender it, saying that he had not +received it from the Twelve and he would not give it up to them. He +was then cited before the council of the church which has a right to +try a president of the high priesthood, viz., the presiding bishop of +the church assisted by twelve high priests.[A] + +[Footnote A: And inasmuch as a president of the high priesthood shall +transgress, he shall be had in remembrance before the common council +of the church, who shall be assisted by twelve counselors of the high +priesthood; and their decision upon his head shall be an end of +controversy concerning him.--Doc. and Cov., sec. cvii, 82, 83.] + +He refused to appear before this council, and therefore, after giving +him due notice and an opportunity to appear and defend himself, the +council convened in the presence of a large congregation of the saints +on the 8th of September, 1844, and proceeded to hear evidence in the +case. The evidence established the insubordination of Elder Rigdon and +the irregularity of his course, and a motion that he be excommunicated +from the church until he repented was carried both by the council +composed of the bishop and the twelve high priests, and also by the +great congregation of the saints. Ten only, and they of Rigdon's +following, voting in the negative.[A] + +[Footnote A: See the minutes of Sidney Rigdon's trial in Grant's +pamphlet on Sidney Rigdon, pp. 19 to 37.] + +After his excommunication he made an attempt at organizing a church, +choosing twelve apostles, etc., but his efforts amounted to but +little. He soon retired from Nauvoo to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, which +he established as his headquarters. He sent missionaries to many +branches of the church to represent his claims to the Presidency, but +they succeeded in getting only slight support and that for the most +part from among those weak in the faith. His church, never strong +either in numbers or prominent men, soon crumbled into decay; Sidney +Rigdon himself sank out of sight and in 1876 he died in obscurity in +Alleghany county, state of New York. + +The fate of Sidney Rigdon and the fate of the organization which he +founded prove the prophetic character of the words of Brigham Young: + + _All that want to draw away a party from the church after them, + let them do it if they can, but they will not prosper_. + + + + +II. + + +Following the attempt of Sidney Rigdon to become the "Guardian of the +Church," we will consider the efforts of William Smith, brother to the +prophet Joseph, to become its President. He was a member of the quorum +of the Twelve at the death of the prophet, though for some time his +conduct had been such as to bring him into disrepute among the Saints. +He was of a turbulent, ungovernable disposition; a man of fierce +passions and violent temper. When the saints were driven from +Missouri, in 1838, and his brother Joseph cast into prison, such was +his vindictiveness against the prophet that at a general conference of +the church held near Quincy, Illinois, May 4th, 1839, he was suspended +from fellowship; but was afterwards restored, mainly through the +pleadings of that same brother against whom he railed with such +bitterness of speech. + +Shortly after the martyrdom of his brothers, Joseph and Hyrum, William +was ordained to the office of patriarch to the church, to succeed +Hyrum Smith, who held that office at the time of his death. The +associate editor of the _Times and Seasons_ in making the announcement +of William's appointment put it that he had been appointed and +ordained patriarch "over the Church." Whereupon a number of persons of +a disposition ever ready to take advantage of a word or make men an +offender because of it, begun to ask if William was Patriarch "over" +the church, did not that also make him President of the church. In the +issue of the _Times and Seasons_ following, the editor corrected the +error of his associate by saying that the notice of William's +appointment to be patriarch should have read patriarch "to" the +church, not "over" it. He, of course, also denied that William was +President of the church.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Times and Seasons_, Vol. VI, No. 9 and No. 10, Art. +_Patriarchal_.] + +Whether it was the discussion about William's appointment to be +patriarch "over" the church which first put it into his head to make a +claim to the office of President of the church; or that he took +advantage of the phrase "Patriarch over the Church," to bring forward +claims to the Presidency which he had previously entertained, may not +be accurately determined; but most likely it was the latter, because +on the occasion of the writer's visit to William Smith, at his home, +near Elkader, Clayton County, Iowa, late in the summer of 1880, he +claimed to have been anointed, appointed, and ordained by the prophet +Joseph to succeed to the office of President of the church after the +prophet's death. + +William Smith, however, based his claim to the position of president, +mainly upon the fact that he was the brother of the Prophet, the only +surviving brother, and therefore he should succeed to his brother's +position. He claimed to find a precedent for this in scripture. In the +council which convened in the early Christian church to consider how +far the Gentile converts were under obligations to observe the forms +and ceremonies of the Jewish law, after Peter and Paul and Barnabas +and others were through speaking on the subject, James, "the Lord's +brother," is represented as saying: + + Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from + among the Gentiles have turned unto God; but that we write unto + them; that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from + fornication and from things strangled and from blood.[A] + +[Footnote A: Acts xv, 19, 20.] + +The "sentence" of James here is regarded as the "decision" of the +council; and William Smith argued that if James gave the decision of +the council, he must have been the president of the council; and if +president of the council, then President of the church; and since +James was the Lord's brother and succeeded him in the Presidency of +the church, so in this dispensation, as in the former one, the +surviving brother of him who stood at the head of the church should +succeed to the Presidency. + +But this sophistry is confronted by the stubborn fact that the Lord +Jesus had said to the Apostle Peter in the most direct terms: + + I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever + thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever + thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.[A] + +[Footnote A: Matt. xvi.] + +It is controverted also by all the facts of history which represent +Peter as the chief Apostle and as holding a Presidency over the entire +church. In modern revelation, too, the order in which the Apostles +have been named who have administered to men on the earth--has been +invariably Peter, James and John--Peter always named first as the +leader, the chief.[A] + +[Footnote A: John the Baptist at the time he conferred on Joseph Smith +and Oliver Cowdery the Aaronic Priesthood (May 15, 1829) said that "he +acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys +of the Priesthood of Melchisedek."--(Hist. Joseph, _Mill. Star_, +supplement, Vol. XIV, p. 15.) + +"I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth, . . . +and also with John, the son of Zacharias...and also with Peter. James +and John whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and +confirmed you Apostles and special witnesses of my name."--(Doc. and +Cov., sec. xvii 5, 12.) + +"Again what do we hear? . . . the voice of Peter, James and John in +the wilderness, between Harmony . . . and Colesville . . . declaring +themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom," (Doc. and Cov., +sec. cxxviii, 20), and so throughout. It is scarcely probable that +Peter would thus invariably have been named first unless that had been +his place, as the chief, that is, the presiding Apostle.] + +William Smith, however, did not command much of a following in this +first attempt to make himself a leader. His profligate life was too +notorious in Nauvoo to make it possible for him to wield much +influence even as a schismatic. His efforts at leadership on this +occasion resulted only in violent denunciations of those who would not +receive him, and his final expulsion from the church. At the general +conference held on the 6th of October, 1845, he was disfellowshipped +from the quorum of the Twelve, and on the 12th of the same month, more +of his wickedness having come to light, he was excommunicated from the +church. He shortly afterwards became associated with James J. Strang +and other apostates in an attempt to establish a church in the state +of Wisconsin, but that failed as we shall see. + +Here it will be proper to note the support which Lucy Smith, mother of +William, gave to his claims to the Presidency. I regret being under +the necessity of quoting her in such a controversy, as it shows this +good and noble woman to have been very much mistaken in this matter, +and one must ever be sorry to see those who are upright mistaken, +especially in so grave a matter as this under consideration. One must +ever feel a delicacy in referring to the words and actions of the +mother of Joseph and Hyrum, of Don Carlos and Samuel H. Smith. She was +a woman who had suffered much for the work of God and the testimony of +Jesus; who in addition to toil, sickness, poverty and exile had lived +to see her two noblest sons murdered, and two other sons and her +husband laid away in premature graves, indirectly the victims of that +relentless persecution which followed her family and the church from +the beginning. These sufferings and her great age doubtless will +account for that weakness of mind through which, and not through any +wrong intent, I feel sure, she was led into this error of supporting +the claims of her son William. But glad as I would be to pass by this +matter for the sake of Sister Lucy Smith, I cannot do so, for the +reason that the Josephites quote her as supporting the claims of +"Young Joseph," and I wish to show by her support of William that she +did not do it. + +The evidence that Sister Lucy Smith sustained the pretentions of +William Smith to the Presidency and not those made in behalf of "Young +Joseph," is found in the journal of the late President John Taylor, a +member of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the time in Nauvoo: + + Friday, June 27th, 1845. + + This was the anniversary of the day that Brothers Joseph and Hyrum + were killed and myself shot. We met together (the quorum of the + Priesthood) to pray, several of the Twelve were present. When I + returned [home] in the evening, Mrs. Taylor showed me a copy of a + vision that Mother Lucy Smith had, stating that her son William + was head of the Church; the following is a copy: + + + FIRST VISION. + + Brothers and children, I was much troubled and felt as if I had + the sins of the whole world to bear, and the burden of the Church; + and I felt that there was something wrong. I called on the Lord to + show me what was wrong, and if it was I. I called upon him until I + slept. I then heard a voice calling on me saying, awake, awake, + awake, for the only son that thou hast living, they for his life + have laid a snare. My aged servant Joseph who was the first + Patriarch of this Church, and my servant Hyrum who was the second + Patriarch, my servant Joseph who was Prophet and Seer, and my + servants Samuel, William and Don Carlos--they were the first + founders, fathers and heads of this Church, raised up in these + last days, and thou art the mother, and thy daughters have helped, + and they are the daughters in Israel, and have helped raise up + this Church. Arise, arise, arise, and take thy place, you know not + what has been in the hearts of some; but he said thou shalt know. + He told me what it was; but I shall not tell. (I saw William in a + room full of armed men and he having no weapons. They would have + crushed him down, if it had not been for the power of God; and + many of the family would have been cut off--[the] Lord having + softened their hearts. Two of them had blacker hearts than the + rest, and I know who they are, and I will tell them if they will + come to me. Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball know it is so, and + dare not deny it.) Call upon the Twelve, let all things be set in + order, and keep their hearts pure from this time hence forth; the + voice saith be merciful, and then Zion shall arise and flourish as + a rose. What I was told I cannot tell. + + Thou art the mother in Israel, and tell thy children all to walk + uprightly. Thy son William, he shall have power over the churches, + he is father in Israel over the patriarchs and the whole of the + Church; he is the last of the lineage that is raised up in these + last days. He is Patriarch to regulate the affairs of the Church. + He is President over all the Church, they cannot take his + apostleship away from him. The Presidency of the Church belongs to + William, he being the last of the heads of the Church, according + to the lineage, he having inherited it from the family from before + the foundation of the world. Thou art a mother in Israel. Thy + spirit arose and said in eternity that it would take a body to be + a mother to prophet[s] who should be raised up to save the last + dispensation. And the spirit said unto me to be faithful, (and + that I was faithful,) and tell the Church to be faithful. And the + spirit said I should live until I was satisfied with life. + + Brothers and children, I want you to take notice that the burden + of the Church rests [on William]. + + + SECOND VISION. + + Joseph came to me and said: "That day is coming when I shall wave + the scepter of power over my enemies. Be patient my brothers and + sisters, the day is coming when you shall have eternal life and be + rewarded for all your troubles." + + + THIRD VISION. + + Father came to me and I said, Father, have you come? And he said + "yes." I said tell me where you have been. And he said, "I have + been all around here. I have come to you again to tell you one + thing certain, which I have told you many times before. It is my + prayer and the prayers of our sons that you live to take care of + William and my daughters, and see that they have their rights and + standing where they ought to have it." He turned to go away, and I + said I will go with you. He said you must stay. + + The following persons were present at the time this vision was + related: + + William Smith, + A. Milliken, + W. I. Salisbury, + David Elliott, + Robt. Campbell, + Elias Smith, + Joseph Cain, + Bro. Stringham, + Chas. Kelly, + Bro. McLery, + Mrs. Taylor, + Mrs. Milliken, + Mrs. Salisbury, + Mrs. McLery, + Mrs. Kelly, + Mrs. Sherman. + +On June 30th, 1845, at the request of Sister Lucy Smith, seven of the +Twelve, with Bishops Miller and Whitney and Elder Cahoon, met at her +house to talk over these visions in respect to William. Several +members of her family were present. It was also arranged for William +Smith to be present, but he failed to appear. I copy from Elder +Taylor's journal, under date of June 30th: + + The conversation was full and free. President Young stated that + William was aiming at power and authority and priesthood that did + not belong to him; that he would sustain William in his office and + calling, but would not allow him to tread upon his or any other + man's neck; that if the Church wanted to have William Smith, he + would mention it to them, and they should have their choice. This, + however, neither the Church, nor the Twelve would consent to; for + if it had been put to them--I do not suppose that twenty would + have voted for him, out of the many thousands there are in the + Church. Mother Smith said he [William] did not want it; she did + not profess to be a revelator only for herself and family, that + she wanted peace, union and harmony. The Twelve all expressed the + same feeling and manifested the greatest kindness to Mother Smith + as did also the bishops. + +Though William did not meet with the Twelve, he addressed a letter to +President Brigham Young which was read at the above meeting. After +complaining about the article on Patriarchs, which had appeared in the +_Times and Seasons_, he concludes thus: + + "My proposition is, my share of the kingdom, and if you will + publish in the _Neighbor_ and _Times and Seasons_ the true state + of the case in regard to my office as Patriarch over the whole + Church, this will give me a right to visit all branches of the + Church, and intrude on no man's rights; and further to attend to + all of the ordinances of God, no man being my head, I will + reconcile all difficulties, and Elder Young can stand as the + President of the Church, and by my most hearty wish and consent. + This will settle all difficulties and restore peace and good + order, and farther than this, I cannot say, only that I want all + men to understand that my father's family are of the royal blood, + and promised seed, and no man or set of men can take their crown + or place in time nor eternity. Brother Young, the above is my + proposition and will settle all difficulties at once, and these + are my avowed sentiments and no equivocation. + + WILLIAM SMITH."[A] + +[Footnote A: Taylor's Journal under date of June 30, 1845.] + +To this letter the Twelve wrote an answer before leaving the house of +Mother Smith. In said letter the brethren regretted not having had the +pleasure of meeting William. They had had considerable talk with + + "Mother Smith, and find her possessing the best of feelings + towards the whole Church. As to your requests in your letter we + would say: we are perfectly willing and wish to have all things + right, but there are some ordinances in the Church that cannot be + administered by any person out of this place at present, but must + be done here. As to having the right to administer all ordinances + in the world and no one standing at your head, we could not + sanction, because the President of the Church, and each one of our + quorum are amenable to the quorum of which you are a member. But + as to your right to officiate in the office of Patriarch, we say + you have the right to officiate in all the world wherever your lot + may be cast, and no one to dictate or control you excepting the + Twelve, which body of men must preside over the whole Church in + all the world." + +The following postscript was added: + + "We have read this to Mother Smith, Catherine, Lucy, and Arthur, + and they express their satisfaction with it, as well as those of + the council who are present."[A] + +[Footnote A: John Taylor's journal, under date of June 30, 1845.] + +Elder Taylor thus concludes his account of this visit with "Mother Smith:" + + "We prayed with Mother Smith before we left her; and she and the + family manifested good feelings. I am sorry the old lady should be + troubled, she is a good woman and has passed through much trouble + for the cause of truth, and has the respect and confidence of the + whole Church."[A] + +[Footnote A: Ibid.] + +After his failure in Nauvoo, and in Wisconsin in connection with Mr. +Strang, we next hear of William Smith in the winter and spring of +1850, visiting those who had been members of the church in Illinois +and Kentucky, teaching "lineal priesthood as applied to the Presidency +of the church." That is, he taught that his brother Joseph's eldest +son had a right by virtue of lineage to succeed to the Presidency of +the church; but also taught in connection with this that it was his +right as the only surviving brother of the former President, uncle and +natural guardian of the "seed" of Joseph the prophet, to stand, in the +_interim_, as president _pro tem_ of the church. There seemed to be a +general acquiescence with this by the members of the church remaining +in the districts where he labored--most of whom were either apostates +or weak in the faith--and in the spring of 1850, he called a +conference to assemble in Covington, Kentucky, where he effected an +organization by having himself sustained as President _pro tem_, of +the church, and Lyman Wight[A] and Aaron Hook as counselors _pro tem_ +to the President _pro tem_, and Joseph Wood as counselor and +spokesman. It is claimed that many of the "saints" in northern +Illinois and southern Wisconsin, were identified with this +movement.[B] + +[Footnote A: I cannot learn that Lyman Wight, once a member of the +quorum of the Twelve, sanctioned this use of his name, or that he ever +was connected with this attempt at organization on the part of Wm. +Smith.] + +[Footnote B: See Jason W. Briggs quoted by Tullidge in his supplement +to the Life of Joseph, Josephite edition, p. 577.] + +A year later, viz., in the summer of 1851, Palestine, Lee county, +Illinois, was designated as a Stake of Zion, a gathering place for +the saints, and the home of William Smith. At the October conference +held at Palestine that year, there was a confession of belief in and +the practice of polygamy, which resulted in many immediately +withdrawing from the organization; and, it is said, that the +declaration proved the means ultimately of its complete +destruction.[A] + +[Footnote A: Tullidge's Hist. of Joseph the prophet (Josephite +edition, p. 577). Tullidge must be regarded as favorably disposed to +the "Josephites," as he became identified with that movement. I +mention the fact here as I find it necessary to depend upon him for +facts occasionally.] + +This was the last effort of William Smith at organizing a church; +subsequently, when an organization was effected with Joseph Smith, +eldest son of the prophet, as its President, he became nominally +connected with that movement, but he was never prominent or +influential. In the summer of 1880, the writer, then on a mission in +the state of Iowa, in company with Hyrum Jensen, called at the home of +William Smith, near Elkader, and found him living in poverty and +obscurity. + +As I think upon this man, and of how far he fell--from the office of +an Apostle and Patriarch to the Church--when I think of his vain +attempt to become President of the church, and, failing in that, +attempting to lead away a party, then organizing a faction from the +remnants of the church left in Illinois and Wisconsin, and every +effort of his ending in failure--I think of the prophetic words of +President Brigham Young: + + _All that want to draw away a party from the Church after them, + let them do it if they can, but they will not prosper!_ + + + + +III. + + +It can scarcely be said that either Lyman Wight or Bishop George +Miller sought to lead the church; but they were guilty of +insubordination to the constituted authorities and lead away parties +with them, and illustrate the truth of President Young's prediction +about the failure of such persons, hence we consider their course. + +Lyman Wight was a strong, bold man; fixed in his friendship for the +prophet Joseph, and true to him under many trying circumstances; but +withal rather difficult to control, and after the death of Joseph soon +manifested a disposition of insubordination to authority. As far back +as February, 1844, he had expressed a desire to go to Texas, and after +the death of the prophet seemed determined that the church should be +removed there. For some time a number of persons had worked under his +and Bishop George Miller's direction in the pineries of Wisconsin, +getting out lumber for the Temple. In the latter part of August, 1844, +President Young desired him to return to the pineries and continue his +labors; but he refused and expressed a determination to carry out his +own views, and be the controller of his own conduct regardless of the +counsel of the presiding quorum. He therefore went to Texas instead of +to Wisconsin, taking a small company of saints with him and settling +in Texas, not far from the present site of Austin. + +For his insubordination Lyman Wight was excommunicated from the +church, the action being taken in Salt Lake City, 1848. The company of +saints that followed him were soon scattered as sheep that have +wandered from the fold and the care of the shepherd; but some few of +them finally found their way back into the church. Lyman Wight lived +in obscurity in Texas, unknown by the world, unhonored, without a +following, and died outside the church of Christ, with which he had +suffered so much during the persecutions it passed through in +Missouri. + +Bishop George Miller was closely associated with Lyman Wight in his +rebellion against the authority of President Young. As already stated +they had been associated in directing the labors of the brethren +working in the pineries, and on returning to Nauvoo both had +manifested a spirit of insubordination to authority. Bishop Miller, +however, did not immediately follow Lyman Wight to Texas, but remained +with the church some two years longer, and was among the first to +cross the Mississippi in the great exodus from Nauvoo. During the +subsequent journey through what was then the wilderness of Iowa, he +manifested a disposition to draw off with his company from the main +camp; and when the great body of the exiled saints wen into Winter +Quarters, near Council Bluffs, Bishop Miller and his company were more +than a hundred and fifty miles north at the junction of the Running +Water and the Missouri River, where they remained during the winter of +1846-7. + +In the spring of 1847, when the saints were making ready for their +journey to the west, Bishop Miller urged the advisability of changing +their destination, and going to Texas, where Lyman Wight had already +settled. The bishop's views being rejected, he withdrew from the camp, +followed by a few over whom he had influence, and with them he joined +Lyman Wight in Texas. The union, however, was of short duration. The +spirit which led them to rebel against President Young would not +permit them to live in peace together. They soon quarrelled and +separated, Miller making his way to Wisconsin where he joined James J. +Strang. He was excommunicated from the church for his rebellion at the +same time as Lyman Wight, in Salt Lake City, 1848. Of the +circumstances under which he died we have not learned, we only know +that he died out of the church of Christ and in obscurity. The +rebellion of these two prominent men in the church, and their effort +to lead away a party therefrom, brought neither honor or fame to them +nor even wealth--they did not prosper. In January, 1841, the Lord had +said to Lyman Wight: + + It is my will that my servant Lyman Wight should continue in + preaching for Zion, in the spirit of meekness, confessing me + before the world, and I will bear him up as on eagle's wings, and + he shall beget glory and honor to himself, and unto my name. That + when he shall finish his work, that I may receive him unto myself, + even as I did my servant David Patten, who is with me at this + time, and also my servant Edward Partridge, and also my aged + servant Joseph Smith, Sen., who sitteth with Abraham at his right + hand, and blessed and holy is he; for he is mine.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. cxxiv, 18, 19.] + +Of Bishop Miller, the Lord said: + + I say unto you, my servant George Miller is without guile; he may + be trusted because of the integrity of his heart; and for the love + which he has to my testimony, I, the Lord, love him! I therefore + say unto you, I seal upon his head the office of a Bishopric, like + unto my servant Edward Partridge, that he may receive the + consecrations of mine house, that he may administer blessings upon + the heads of the poor of my people, saith the Lord. Let no man + despise my servant George, for he shall honor me.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. cxxiv, 20, 21.] + +What a splendid prospect was opened before these men! to what heights +they could hope to ascend--even to the companionship of God! Here was +honor, glory, exaltation held out to them, within their reach; but +they pushed it all aside--exchanged it all for the "wo" of them who +are cut off from the church of Christ--who are overcome of the +world![A] And instead of living among the saints, honored as God's +servants, supported by the faith, prayer, love and confidence of the +church of Christ, they lived and finally died in wretched obscurity-- +unwept, unhonored and unsung, their lives and their ending only +important as illustrating the truth of the prophetic words of him who +said: + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. 1, 8.] + + _All that want to draw away a party from the church after them, + let them do it if they can, but they will not prosper!_ + + + + +IV. + + +But little is heard of James J. Strang in the church until after the +death of the prophet Joseph; but that he was a man of considerable +intellectual ability there can be no question. Mr. Strang claimed that +about ten days before his death the prophet Joseph gave to him a +letter containing a revelation appointing him [James J. Strang] to be +his successor as President and Prophet of the church. The letter also +appointed Mr. Strang's counselor, and commanded the Twelve Apostles to +proclaim Voree, Wisconsin, as the gathering place of the saints. Mr. +Strang attempted to strengthen his claim to the position of President +and Prophet of the church by reference to the revelation which says: + + Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye have received a + commandment for a law unto my Church, through him whom I have + appointed to receive commandments and revelations from my hand. + And this ye shall know assuredly that there is none other + appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations, until + he be taken, if he abide in me. But verily, verily, I say unto + you, that none else shall be appointed unto this gift except it be + through him, for if it be taken from him, he shall not have power + except to appoint another in his stead.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., sec. xliii.] + +Mr. Strang claimed that the appointment he received through the letter +here presented as coming from the prophet Joseph, fulfilled the terms +of the revelation above quoted; for he had been appointed through the +prophet Joseph. + +When he presented this "letter" and "revelation" to some of the saints +in Michigan, viz., to those living in the town of Florence, St. Joseph +County, they asked him if the Twelve that were commanded in his +"revelation" to proclaim Voree, Wisconsin, as the gathering place for +the saints, were the Twelve Apostles at Nauvoo. He replied they were. +Did they know anything of this "revelation?" They did not. Had he been +ordained a prophet? He replied no. The saints were suspicious of his +claims, and would not receive him.[A] + +[Footnote A: See letter of Crandell Dunn, who was presiding over the +branches of the church in Western Michigan at the time--_Mill. Star_, +Vol. VIII., p. 93.] + +This question as to his ordination presented a serious difficulty to +Mr. Strang, a difficulty which he tried to surmount by announcing soon +afterwards that immediately after the martyrdom of the prophet Joseph, +an angel appeared to him and ordained him to be a prophet to the +church, and the successor to Joseph as the President thereof. + +He presented himself in Nauvoo and succeeded in drawing to his support +a number of restless men--men who had been neglectful of their duties +in the church of Christ, and of a disposition to follow any person who +promised them change and excitement. Not many followed him from +Nauvoo, however, for there his influence amounted to little; but in +the scattered branches, especially in those in Wisconsin, he succeeded +in deceiving many. Among those who accepted and sustained his claims +were William Smith, the only surviving brother of the prophet Joseph; +the notorious John C. Bennett, who had been excommunicated from the +church for his crimes, and afterward plotted with the enemies of +Joseph to bring to pass his destruction; and also John E. Page, one of +the Twelve, who for several years previous to Joseph's death had been +in bad repute with the church. John C. Bennett had first supported +Sidney Rigdon, claiming to have received a sealed document from the +prophet Joseph--when as yet he was in full fellowship with the +church--with a strict charge not to open it until after the prophet's +death. When he opened it, lo! it contained what purported to be a +revelation from the deceased prophet appointing Sidney Rigdon to be +his successor. John C. Bennett averred that this was as it should be, +and so eagerly was this purported revelation accepted by the +supporters of Mr. Rigdon, that they had it published and widely +circulated among the branches of the church. But when Mr. Strang came +forward with his claims, John C. Bennett turned from Sidney Rigdon and +supported Mr. Strang--having forgot, apparently, the "revelation" +contained in the sealed document which appointed Mr. Rigdon President +of the church![A] + +[Footnote A: _Mill. Star_, Vol. VIII, p. 94.] + +John E. Page, in support of the Strang movement, intercepted a company +of saints in Michigan, en route from Canada to Nauvoo. He represented +that it was the will of the Lord that they should settle in Voree, +Wisconsin, Mr. Strang's gathering place, and not go to Nauvoo. This +company, however, were prudent enough not to receive his +representations without investigation. They sent messengers to Nauvoo +who received such instructions from the Twelve as preserved them from +the deceitfulness of this apostate Apostle. John E. Page continued to +support the claims of James J. Strang, and for doing so was +excommunicated from the church,[A] and swelled the number of those who +have made shipwreck of faith through opposing legitimate authority. + +[Footnote A: John E. Page was disfellowshipped from the quorum of the +Twelve, February 9th, 1846; and excommunicated from the church June +27, 1846.] + +Mr. Strang in a short time changed his gathering place from Voree, +Wisconsin, to Beaver Island, in the north end of Lake Michigan. He +organized a township on Beaver Island, went to the state legislature +and succeeded in having the whole group of islands in north Lake +Michigan organized into a county, under the name of Manitou County, +which for some years Mr. Strang represented in the Michigan state +legislature. + +Mr. Strang was not satisfied with being Prophet and President of the +church, he must also be a king; and accordingly was crowned and given +a scepter[A]--"The attribute to awe and majesty, wherein doth sit the +dread and fear of kings!" + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXV, p. 718.] + +He was crowned by George J. Adams, also an apostate from the church. +At one time Mr. Adams had been appointed to go on a mission to the +empire of Russia, to preach the gospel; but before he started he was +found to be in transgression. His appointment was, of course, +cancelled; and subsequently, as he still further transgressed, he was +excommunicated from the church, after which he joined Mr. Strang at +Beaver Island. + +It may be well to observe, in passing, that all these aspirants for +place and power manifested an insatiable desire for the honors and +titles of men, a thing which shows them to be as vain as they were +ambitious, and distinguishes them from true leaders (especially those +whom God calls), who so loose themselves in their work, that self is +unthought of, much less the empty honors and titles of men. Mr. Strang +was not only a "king" in name, but also one in disposition if those +who represent his conduct speak truly. Arbitrary and cruel in his +methods of government, he finally provoked much dissatisfaction among +his followers, and not a few dissensions. + +The people whom he gathered together on Beaver Island soon fell into +disrepute with their neighbors. They are represented as claiming that +the earth was the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; that they were the +Lord's saints and heirs to that which was the Lord's, and hence did +not hesitate to purloin their neighbor's goods. In other words, they +were accused by their neighbors with being an organized community of +thieves, who thrived by plundering more honest people. It is not our +prerogative to pronounce upon the truth or falsity of these charges. +It is enough to say that Mr. Strang and his followers were held in +great abhorrence by the other inhabitants of the Manitou group of +islands and the people on the neighboring main-land; and in the summer +of 1856, there was a general uprising of the people in those parts +which resulted in the killing of Mr. Strang--some accounts say, by two +men of his own party, and the breaking up of his organization. + +Once more we stand face to face with the prophetic words of President +Young: + + _All that want to draw away a party from the church after them, + let them do it if they can, but they will not prosper!_ + + + + +V. + + +We now come to the last organization that was brought into existence +through the agency of men once associated with the Church of Jesus +Christ of Latter-day Saints--the so-called "Re-organized Church of +Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," commonly called the "Josephite +Church." This organization is still in existence, and has for its +President, Joseph Smith, the eldest son of the prophet Joseph. It is +my purpose first to give an account of how this organization came into +existence, and then consider the claims of Mr. Joseph Smith to be of +right the President of the church founded, under God, by his father. + +Jason W. Briggs, one of the founders and leaders in the Josephite +movement, informs us that in the spring of 1850, William Smith, whose +acquaintance the reader has already formed, called a conference at +Covington, Kentucky: + + "From which time he visited many of the branches and scattered + saints, teaching "lineal Priesthood" as applying to the Presidency + of the Church. . . . This principle, though pretty clearly shown + in the books, had been almost entirely overlooked or forgotten by + the saints; but when their attention was _thus_[A] called to it, + many at once received it as the solution of the question of + Presidency."[B] + +[Footnote A: That is, by the preaching of William Smith.] + +[Footnote B: Tullidge's supplement to Josephite edition of Life of +Joseph the Prophet, p. 576.] + +William Smith as the reader is already informed, claimed the right as +natural guardian of the "seed" of Joseph the prophet, to stand as +President _pro tem_ of the church until the "seed" should come forward +to take his place; and proceeded to organize a church with that +understanding. This organization as already stated held a conference, +in October, 1851, at which was proclaimed a belief in and practice of +polygamy. Among those who attended this conference of William Smith's +church was Jason W. Briggs, who, after returning to his home in +Wisconsin, was much perplexed over the condition of the church. While +pondering in his heart the situation, on the 18th of November, 1851, +on the prairie some three miles from the town of Beloit, Wisconsin, he +claims to have received a revelation from God. In that "revelation" +the Lord is represented as declaring it to be the duty of those elders +who had been ordained by the prophet Joseph, or by the hand of those +ordained by him, to preach the gospel-- + + As revealed in the record of the Jews, and the Book of Mormon and + the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; and cry repentance and + remission of sins through obedience to the gospel, and I will + sustain them and give them my spirit; and in my own due time will + I call upon the seed of Joseph Smith, and I will bring one forth, + and he shall be mighty and strong, and he shall preside over the + High Priesthood of my Church; and then shall the quorums assemble, + and the pure in heart shall gather, and Zion shall be + re-inhabited, as I said unto my servant Joseph Smith; after many + days shall all these things be accomplished, saith the spirit.[A] + +[Footnote A: Josephite edition of Life of Joseph the Prophet, p. 578.] + +This "revelation" Mr. Briggs was commanded to send to the churches at +Palestine, Voree, Waukesha and other places.[A] + +[Footnote A: Ibid.] + +While the messengers of Mr. Briggs are carrying his "revelation" to +the scattered churches in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan, it is +necessary to relate some incidents said to have occurred in another +part of Wisconsin, in what is called the "Yellow Stone Branch."[A] +This "branch" belonged to that organization founded by James J. +Strang, and was presided over by Zenas H. Gurley, frequently called +"Father Gurley." During the year 1850, according to Mr. Gurley's own +statement, several strange things came to his knowledge which +satisfied him that + +[Footnote A: The "Yellow Stone Branch" where "Father Gurley" was +located was in La Fayette Co., South Western Wisconsin. Beloit where +Jason W. Briggs operated was in extreme south of the same state.] + + "Neither J. J. Strang, Brigham Young, William Smith, nor any that + had claimed to be prophets, since Joseph's death, were the + servants of God."[A] + +[Footnote A: Life of Joseph the Prophet, Josephite edition, p. 580.] + +The doubts born in 1850, grew stronger in Mr. Gurley's mind in 1851; +and one Sunday evening, in the fall of that year, while reflecting +upon the prophecies of Isaiah, respecting the great latter-day +work--especially of that prophecy which speaks of the house of the +Lord in the last days being established in the top of the mountains, +and all nations flowing unto it[A]--he thought then of Strang's Beaver +Island operation, and felt ashamed that he had ever thought that this +would bring to pass the work predicted by the Hebrew prophet. He +claims then to have heard the voice of the spirit say to him: + +[Footnote A: Isaiah ii. 2-4.] + + Rise up, cast off all that claim to be prophets, and go forth and + preach the gospel and say that God will raise up a prophet to + complete his work. + +A few weeks afterwards this commandment and prophecy was repeated, and +he began looking about for a starting point. Meantime one David Powell +arrived at Yellow Stone with Mr. Briggs's "revelation," which +predicted the coming forth of one from the seed of Joseph the prophet, +to lead the church. Mr. Gurley, however, could not wholly accept the +"revelation" of Mr. Briggs. It had been "revealed" to him that God +would raise up a prophet, but who it would be had not been made known +to him. About ten or fifteen days after the arrival of Mr. Briggs's +messenger, word was brought to Mr. Gurley that his little daughter was +"singing and speaking in tongues" at a neighbor's house. Mr. Gurley +hurried to the house and after listening to the child a short time, he +requested all present to join with him in asking the Lord to tell them +who the successor of Joseph was. They spent a few moments in prayer +when the Holy Spirit declared:[A] + +[Footnote A: Through whom is not stated.] + + The successor of Joseph Smith is Joseph Smith, the son of Joseph + Smith the prophet. It is his right by lineage, saith the Lord your + God. + +Shortly after this manifestation of the gift of tongues and the +proclamation of the above reputed revelation, the "Yellow Stone +branch" was convened and James J. Strang formally renounced as a +prophet, seer and revelator to the church, and the allegiance of the +branch pledged to the "seed" of Joseph Smith the prophet. The above +"revelation" made it possible for Mr. Gurley to unite with Mr. Briggs, +and word was accordingly sent to the latter, that evidence of the +truth of his "revelation" had been received, and proposed the holding +of a conference in June, 1852. After some correspondence it was +finally settled that the conference be held in the town of Beloit, +Wisconsin. + +This conference by resolution first disclaimed all connection and +fellowship with those men who had presumed to lead the church, +charging them with having assumed powers contrary to the law of God. +Secondly the conference + + Resolved, That the successor of Joseph Smith, junior, as the + presiding High Priest in the Melchisedek Priesthood, must of + necessity be of the seed of Joseph Smith, junior, in fulfillment + of the law and promises of God. + +The other resolutions of importance adopted by the conference declared +that the office of President of the church grew out of the authority +of the presiding high priest in the high priesthood; that they +recognize the validity of all legal ordinations in the church; that +the whole law of the church is contained in the Bible, Book of Mormon, +Doctrine and Covenants; that there was no stake of Zion to which the +saints are commanded at present to gather; and that it was the duty of +the elders to cry repentance and remission of sins to this generation. +A committee was appointed to write a pamphlet based on these +resolutions entitled "A Word of Consolation to the Scattered Saints." + +It was about this time, viz, during the summer of 1852, that the +"stake of Zion" in Lee county, Illinois, founded by William Smith's +church, went to pieces and a number of the members thereof joined this +Josephite movement set on foot by Messrs. Briggs and Gurley. + +The next conference of the Josephite church was held in October, 1852, +at the Yellow Stone branch, and then more especially was considered +the question of authority to preside in the church that was forming, +pending the coming forth of "young Joseph" to be its president. The +pamphlet which the June conference had ordered written, announced that +the "highest authority presides always," and the deliberations of the +conference resulted in the following: + + Resolved, That in the opinion of this conference, the one holding + the highest priesthood in the church is to preside, and represent + the rightfull heir to the presidency of the high priesthood in a + presiding capacity. + +These men, however, found great difficulty in determining who held the +highest authority as many unwarrantable ordinations had taken place in +the various factions. + + After earnest discussion it was determined that all ordinations + not within the limits of the law should be ignored, and all within + the limit recognized. This excluded all above an high priest, who + being the highest recognized, was sustained as the presiding + authority.[A] + +[Footnote A: Life of Joseph the Prophet, Josephite edition, p. 592.] + +I have been unable to learn, however, that any one of the high priests +was selected to preside over the Josephite church at this juncture, +and one is left to infer that the whole body of so-called high priests +were to preside. During the winter of 1853, the "spirit" intimated to +Mr. Gurley, that they must "organize;" but this they knew not how to +do, further than they had done.[A] They were even unable to decide on +the validity of the ordinations of the men who had attended the +October conference.[B] + +[Footnote A: Ibid, p. 594.] + +[Footnote B: Life of Joseph the Prophet, Josephite edition, p. 594.] + +In the month of March, 1853, the subject of organization being still +agitated, the question was put to the Lord: "Were those ordained +apostles by William Smith recognized by God?" The answer was that +those ordinations were not acceptable--were not of God.[A] Near the +close of this revelation the men engaged in this movement were +commanded to organize themselves: + +[Footnote A: Ibid, 595.] + + "'For ere long,' saith the Lord, 'I will require the prophet at + your hand.'" + +But how to organize they did not know. They claim to have had two high +priests and one senior president of the seventies among them. "But how +could these men organize the church?" asks Mr. Gurley: + + It was impossible, utterly impossible. We counseled upon it, and + concluded that possibly, under the present circumstances, it might + be right for high priests, and for the senior President of + seventies to ordain seventies; but when done what would it + accomplish? Nothing, just nothing. We were in trouble--deep + trouble! To refuse to organize was disobedience; to go forward in + the attempt was darkness. There was but one alternative, and that + was to seek wisdom from above.[A] + +[Footnote A: Life of Joseph the Prophet, Josephite edition, p. 595.] + +The result of inquiring of the Lord, according to the statement of Mr. +Gurley, was that a commandment was given appointing a day of fasting +and prayer, and the Lord promised to show them how to organize. When +the meeting assembled the following question was put to the Lord: + + Will the Lord please to tell us how to organize. . . . . And who + among us will he acknowledge as the representative of the legal + heir to the Presidency of the Church. + +To this inquiry it is claimed that an answer was obtained through a +"revelation" to one H. H. Deam, a high priest, which reads as follows: + + Verily thus saith the Lord, as I said unto my servant Moses,--see + thou do all things according to the pattern,--so I say unto you. + Behold the pattern is before you. It is my will that you respect + authority in my Church; therefore let the greatest among you + preside at your conference. Let three men be appointed by the + conference to select seven men from among you, who shall compose + the majority of the Twelve, for it is my will that that quorum + should not be filled up at present. Let the President of the + conference, assisted by two others, ordain them. The senior of + them shall stand as the representative. Let them select twelve men + from among you, and ordain them to compose the high council. + Behold ye understand the order of the bishopric, the seventies, + the elders, the priests, the teachers, and deacons. Therefore + organize according to the pattern; behold I will be with you unto + the end.[A] + +[Footnote A: Life of Joseph, the Prophet, Josephite edition, p. +596-7.] + +This alleged revelation was given on the 20th of March, 1853, and at +the April conference following an organization was effected on the +above indicated plan. After a long discussion, about whose priesthood +was the highest--in the course of which a great deal of ill-feeling +was manifested--finally the controversy ended in favor of Mr. Briggs, +and he was called to preside at the conference. Ethan Griffith, +William Cline and Cyrus Newkirk were appointed the committee to select +the seven "apostles" to form the majority of the quorum of the Twelve. +The men selected were Zenas H. [Father] Gurley, Henry H. Deam, Jason +W. Briggs, Daniel B. Razy, John Cunningham, George White and Reuben +Newkirk. It was voted that a "stake of Zion" be organized in the town +of Argyle, Lafayette Co., Wisconsin, of which William Cline, Cyrus +Newkirk and Isaac Butterfield were chosen and ordained the presidency. +A number of "seventies" were also ordained. At the close of the +conference a "revelation" was received informing the conference that +what had been done was recorded in heaven, and to the seven "apostles" +it was said: + + I give unto you the care of my flock on earth; take the oversight + of them, as you shall give an account unto me in the day of + judgment.[A] + +[Footnote A: Life of Joseph the Prophet, Josephite edition, p. 601.] + +The period between the time of this organization effected in April, +1853, and the time when Joseph Smith, son of the prophet became its +president, April, 1860, is called by the Josephite historian Tullidge, +"an apostolic interval." During that interval the Josephite church +seemed not to make much progress. Joseph Smith was several times +solicited to take the Presidency of it, but he seemed not at all +anxious for the place. + +In 1856, the "reorganized church" sent to the predicted head of it, +the word of the Lord, urging him to come and take his place. The +document was signed by J. W. Briggs, "representative president of the +church and the priesthood in Zarahemla." Messrs. Briggs and Gurley +were appointed a committee to present this message to Mr. Smith, which +they did at his home near Nauvoo. According to Mr. Smith's own amount +of this visit, these messengers did not meet with a very cordial +reception; and when Mr. Briggs vehemently urged the matter upon him, +and "announced the culmination of the message in tones of thunder, and +almost dictatorially" urged him to accept the message and do as +directed therein, or reject it at his peril, he says he met this +"vehemence indignantly, and almost turned these messengers out of +doors."[A] + +[Footnote A: Life of Joseph the Prophet, Josephite edition, p. 767.] + +The effort on the part of Messrs. Briggs and Gurley to induce Mr. +Smith to become their president ended on this occasion in +disappointment, though before leaving Nauvoo the whole situation was +talked over in the presence of Mrs. Emma Smith, mother of Joseph. + +It is to be remarked as passing strange that neither on this occasion, +nor on any other that Josephite history speaks of, was it urged upon +Joseph Smith that he had already been formally anointed by his father +to be the President of the church. + +Early in February, 1860, a call was issued, signed by Z. H. Gurley and +Reuben Newkirk, calling for a general conference to assemble at Amboy, +Illinois, the following April. All the branches of the church in +Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan were urged to send representatives, +as it was desirable to choose a high council and organize and set in +order all the quorums under the First Presidency; and an intimation +was made that much more than was anticipated might be realized--was it +an intimation that Joseph Smith would come and accept the Presidency +of their church? + +Meantime Joseph Smith who, according to his own autobiography, had +failed as storekeeper, railroad contractor, in the study of law, in +farming, and while keeping soul and body together by labor and from +his fees as justice of the peace, was confronted with the question of +his connection with his "father's work;" and in the winter of 1859, +resolved to put himself in communication with the "reorganized +church."[A] + +[Footnote A: For the above acts see his autobiography in the Life of +Joseph, Josephite ed., pp. 743-773.] + +He accordingly wrote to Mr. William Marks, informing him that he was +"soon going to take his father's place at the head of the Mormon +church," and requested him and others that he considered nearest him, +to come to Nauvoo and confer with him.[A] Mr. Smith states as his +reason for sending for Mr. Marks that he was president of the stake of +Zion at Nauvoo at the death of Joseph, the prophet; that he had +retained his faith in Mormonism as taught by Joseph and Hyrum; and +hence his council would be valuable. Mr. Smith also announced his +intention to his mother and step-father; the former approved his +course, the latter took a speculative view of it and built fond +schemes for obtaining wealth through the position to be taken by his +step-son. + +[Footnote A: William Marks, according to the statement of Joseph Smith +in his autobiography, came in company with James J. Strang to Fulton +City, where Emma Smith and her son Joseph lived during the winter of +1845-6, and had a brief interview with Joseph and his mother, +promising to meet them again. Messrs. Marks and Strang held meetings +in the neighborhood, but Mr. Smith says he did not see them again. It +was claimed by Mr. Strang that he on this occasion ordained "young +Joseph" to the same priesthood that his uncle Hyrum held, and it seems +that he afterwards so reported to some of his followers. As late as +June, 1891, Mr L. D. Hickey, a Strangite, wrote a tract entitled, +"_Who was the Successor of Joseph Smith?_" in which the following +occurs: "Nov. 6 1846, James J. Strang was commanded to go and anoint +and ordain Joseph Smith, the son of the martyr, to the same priesthood +his uncle Hyrum held. We have all the proof we want that James did +obey God; and that left the son of Joseph as one of the Presidents of +the church, and the Book of Rules says in case of the death of either +of the First Presidents, the other shall preside until the vacancy is +filled. This was the situation of the church at the dead of James [J. +Strang]. So that by virtue of the ordination Joseph obtained under the +hands of James and no other ordination, we [the Strangites] hold him +the legal President of the Church from the death of James to this +day."--(page 5.) Joseph Smith denies any such ordination having taken +place unless it was done when he was unconscious and unknown to +William Marks.--See _Life of Joseph the Prophet_, Josephite edition, +p. 754.] + +Soon after this, Mr. Marks, one Israel L. Rogers and William W. Blair, +all interested in the "Reorganized church" movement, visited Mr. Smith +at his mother's home in Nauvoo, and held an interview with them. It +was finally decided that Mr. Smith and his mother should attend the +ensuing April conference, called to assemble at Amboy, Lee county, +Illinois, and the matter was to be laid before the church and a +decision arrived at: + + "For, said Elder Marks; we have had enough of man-made prophets, + and we don't want any more of that sort. If God has called you, we + want to know it. If he has, the Church is ready to sustain you; if + not, we want nothing to do with you."[A] + +[Footnote A: Life of Joseph the Prophet, Josephite edition p. 767.] + +Messrs. Marks, Rogers and Blair, in 1860, seem not to have been so +urgent as Messrs. Briggs and Gurley had been in 1856; the latter had +commanded him to take the Presidency of the church, or refuse to do so +at his peril; the former merely agreed to see about it, by presenting +the matter to the church. Indeed for men who professed to have +evidence that Mr. Smith had been called, blessed and anointed by +Joseph the prophet to be the President of the church, and to possess +the right to that position by virtue of lineage, the reply of Mr. +Marks to Mr. Smith's proposition to take the Presidency of the +Reorganized church seems unaccountably cold, and too much burdened +with doubt and independence when addressing the only man who, on the +theory of the "Reorganized church," could possibly succeed to the +Presidency. Mr. Smith affects to have been made indignant at the +urgency of Messrs. Briggs and Gurley, in 1856; the coldness and +independence of Messrs. Marks, Rogers and Blair must have been a still +greater source of annoyance. + +Mr. Smith went to the conference at Amboy, and in the afternoon of the +6th of April, 1860, made a speech, at the conclusion of which it was +moved that he be received as a prophet,--the successor of his father. +The motion was carried by a unanimous vote, after which Mr. Gurley +who, assisted by Mr. William Marks, presided at the conference, arose +and said: + + Brother Joseph, I present this Church to you in the name of Jesus + Christ! + +And of course Mr. Smith accepted it. + +The speech made by Mr. Smith at the above mentioned conference is +remarkable only for its tameness; but I quote a few sentences that may +be of special interest; first as showing that he claimed to be called +to his position by a power not his own:-- + + I came not here of myself, but by the influence of the spirit. For + some time past I have received manifestations pointing to the + position I am about to assume. I wish to say that I have come here + not to be dictated by any men or set of men. I have come in + obedience to a power not my own, and shall be dictated by the + power which sent me. + + . . . Some, who ought to know the proprieties of the church, have + told me that no certain form was necessary in order for me to + assume the leadership, that the position came by right of lineage, + yet I know that if I attempted to lead as a prophet by these + considerations, and _not by a call from heaven_, men would not be + lead to believe who do not believe now. And so I have come not of + my own dictation to this sacred office. + +As to revelations he said: + + I have my peculiar notions in regard to revelations, but am happy + to say that they accord with those I am to associate with, at + least with those of them with whom I have conversed. I am not very + conversant with those books (pointing to a volume before him), not + so conversant as I should be and will be. + +That his "notions in regard to revelations" were indeed "peculiar," +one only has to read the following to be convinced: + + _I pledge myself to promulgate no doctrine that shall not be + approved by you_, or the code of good morals. + +How different this from the reply of one of the ancient prophets, when +some sought to have him give out no prophecy or revelation but what +should be approved by them: + + And Micaiah said, as the Lord liveth what the Lord saith unto me, + that will I speak![A] + +[Footnote A: I Kings xxii, 7-14] + +How different, too, from the spirit of Brigham Young who shortly after +being chosen President of the church wrote: + + As the Lord's will is my will all the time--as He dictates so will + I perform. If He don't guide the ship, we'll go down in the + whirlpool.[A] + +[Footnote A: Letter to Orson Spencer, Jan. 23rd. 1848, _Mill. Star_, +Vol. X, p. 115.] + +What a contrast also between his "I-pledge-myself-to-promulgate-no- +doctrine-that-shall-not-be-approved-by-you" position of the son of the +great prophet, and the position in which the Almighty God of heaven +placed his father. The prophet Joseph's position may be learned from +the following revelation given the very day the church was organized: + + Behold there shall be a record kept among you, and in it thou + shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of + Jesus Christ, an elder of the church, through the will of God the + Father and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Wherefore, + meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and + commandments which he shall give unto you _as he receiveth them_, + walking in all holiness before me. _For his words ye shall + receive, as if from mine own mouth_, in all patience and faith; + for by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail + against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of + darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your + good and his name's glory.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., sec. xxi.] + +As the heavens are higher than the earth, so is this position given to +the prophet Joseph by the Lord higher than that assumed by his son, +who claims to be his successor, and yet stands pledged to promulgate +no doctrine that shall not be approved by his associates! What manner +of prophet is this? + +Following Mr. Smith's acceptance of the church at the hands of Mr. +Gurley, he was ordained to the office of President of the high +priesthood and President of the church by William Marks, Zenas H. +Gurley, Samuel Powers and W. W. Blair. Mr. Marks was president of the +Nauvoo stake of Zion at the death of the prophet, and the other three +gentlemen were "apostles" in the Reorganized church.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Successor_, (Josephite pamphlet,) pp. 10, II, also +_The Saint's Herald_, Vol XXXIX, No. 24. p. 375.] + +We have now followed the history of the "Reorganized church" as far as +it is necessary. It only remains to remark that it is a stream formed +by the confluence of two other streams; one of which, represented by +Mr. Gurley and his following, flows from Strangism; and the other, +represented by Mr. Briggs and his following, flows from the church +organized by William Smith. We leave it for Josephites to inform us on +what principle of philosophy two corrupt, apostate streams by uniting, +make a pure one! + + + + +VI. + + +Let us now consider the claims of Mr. Joseph Smith to be of right the +President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His +claims, or those made in his behalf by his friends and followers, are +based upon the following assumptions:-- + +First, that he was called to that position when a boy, through his +father, (1) by prophecy and blessing in Liberty jail, Missouri, where +his father was confined in the winter of 1838-9 (2) by revelation in +1841; and (3) by a formal anointing in a council of the priesthood at +Nauvoo, in 1844:-- + +Second, that the position in his by lineage--it is his birthright:-- + +Third, that he was called to the position by "revelation" to himself; +and, + +Fourth, he was ordained to it by those holding legal authority.[A] + +[Footnote A: See _The Saint's Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, p. 337; and also +_The Successor_, a Josephite pamphlet, pp. 8, 9, 10, 11.] + +It is my purpose to consider these claims in their order, one by one, +and show the untrustworthiness of the evidence upon which they are +based, the weakness of the argument by which they are sustained, and +finally how these claims contradict both the facts of history and the +order that exists in the holy priesthood. I take up the first +assumption in its several parts: + +He was called to that position [_i. e._, to be President of the +church], through his father, by prophecy and blessing in Liberty jail. + +This claim is based solely upon the testimony of Lyman Wight. They +quote him as follows: + + In the private journal of Lyman Wight, . . . . this is found: + "Sunday, December 8th, 1850, bore testimony that Joseph Smith + appointed those of his own posterity to be his successor." + + And in a letter he wrote in July, 1855, from Medina river, Texas, + to the _Northern Islander_, a Strangite paper, Brother Wight said: + Now Mr. Editor, if you had been present _when Joseph called on me + shortly after we came out of jail_,[A] [Liberty jail, Missouri. + --Ed.] to lay hands with him on the head of a youth, and heard him + cry aloud, "you are my successor when I depart." and heard the + blessings poured on his head,--I say had you heard all this, and + seen the tears streaming from his eyes--you would not have been + led [into following Strang] by blind fanaticism, or a zeal without + knowledge.[B] + +[Footnote A: The _italics_ are mine, note them. R.] + +[Footnote B: _The Saint's Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 338-9.] + +Of this testimony it is to be said, first on the entry in Mr. Wight's +journal, that it is too general in its character to be of much service +in supporting the claims of "young Joseph." We are not certain that he +refers to him at all. Then if Lyman Wight knew in 1850 that Joseph the +prophet had blessed his son Joseph to be his successor, as prophet and +president of the church, Mr. Wight knew it in 1844; and is it not +strange that he did not speak of it and advocate it when the question +of a successor was warmly discussed in Nauvoo, during the autumn of +1844? Why is it that we have nothing from him on the subject earlier +than 1850? And this silence on the part of Mr. Wight is the more +significant when it is remembered that he was a bold, fearless man. It +cannot be said in truth, that Brigham Young's influence was so +masterly as to awe him into silence. As a matter of fact he violently +opposed Brigham Young in some of his measures, and at last rebelled +against him; but nothing is said by him until 1850, about the +appointment of any of the prophet's posterity to succeed to the +presidency of the church. + +The letter quoted from the _Northern Islander_, might be of some force +if its statements were not contradicted as to time and place and +circumstance by another statement, also made in a Josephite +publication. Let it be observed that according to the testimony of Mr +Wight, in the _Northern Islander_, the "blessing and prophecy" under +consideration was given at a time that the prophet called on Mr. +Wight, _shortly after they came out of Liberty jail_. With that in +mind read the following in _The Successor:_--[A] + +[Footnote A: A Josephite tract sustaining the claims of "young +Joseph," p. 3.] + + Lyman Wight, one of the Twelve, always taught the saints whom he + led into Texas, that none but "little Joseph" could lead the + church, as successor to the martyr. He said he knew it, _for in + 1839, when Hyrum, Joseph, and himself were in prison, in Liberty + jail, Missouri_, "little Joseph" was brought by his mother _and + left with his father in the jail_, while she was attending to + business affairs in the town--_and that then and there_[A] Joseph, + with Hyrum and himself, laid their hands upon the lad's head, and + Joseph proceeded to bless him, and prophesied that he would yet + lead the church of the living God; and he blessed him to that end. + Such was the testimony of Lyman Wight up to 1858, the year in + which he died. + +[Footnote A: The _italics_ are mine. R.] + +This statement makes the "blessing and prophecy" to have been +pronounced upon the head of "young Joseph," in Liberty jail; whereas +the statement made by Mr. Wight in the _Northern Islander_, places it +shortly after they came out of Liberty jail. And be it further +remarked, that if it took place after they came out of prison, then it +must have taken place in Illinois and not in Missouri at all. For the +family of the prophet started from Far West on the 7th of February, +1839, in charge of Stephen Markham, and after many hardships arrived +on the banks of the Mississippi, opposite the town of Quincy, +Illinois, on the 15th of the same month.[A] Joseph Smith and his +fellow prisoners were taken from Liberty jail to Gallatin, for trial, +in April. They applied for and obtained a change of venue from Daviess +to Boone county, and while en route escaped from their guards. After +making their escape the prophet says: + +[Footnote A: History of Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XVI., p. +742.] + + We continued our journey, both by night and by day; and after + suffering much fatigue and hunger, I arrived in Quincy, Illinois + (Monday, April 22nd) amidst the congratulations of my friends and + the embraces of my family, whom I found as well as could be + expected, considering what they had been called on to endure.[A] + +[Footnote A: Hist. Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_ Vol. XVII, p.148.] + +Hence if the "prophecy and blessing" on the head of "young Joseph" +took place after Mr. Wight and the prophet Joseph got out of prison, +it must have taken place in Illinois and not in Liberty jail, +Missouri, as related in the second statement with such detail of +circumstance. This contradiction in the testimony of Mr. Wight, taken +in connection with the fact that at the time of making it, viz, in +1855, he had lost his honor, was an apostate, neither being true to +the church of Christ led by his fellow apostles nor true to the son of +the prophet whom he claimed to know had been set apart to succeed to +the Presidency of the church--these considerations, I say, render the +testimony of Lyman Wight worthless. + +Furthermore, Caleb Baldwin and Alexander McRae were fellow-prisoners +of Joseph and Hyrum Smith as well as Lyman Wight. They all occupied +the same prison-cell--how is it, if the ordination of "young Joseph" +to succeed his father took place in Liberty Jail, that these men knew +nothing of it; for that they knew nothing of it is evident from their +silence. Surely such a thing could not occur in Liberty jail without +their knowing it. And had it occurred it is a matter that would have +been well remembered and frequently spoken of as one of the notable +incidents of their Liberty-prison life. But not one word have either +Caleb Baldwin or Alexander McRae left on record that such a notable +thing ever took place; neither has Lyman Wight in any way that carries +even so much as a poor shadow of conviction with it. + +_(2) Mr. Smith further claims that he was called to be President of +the church through his father by revelation in 1841_. + +The revelation referred to was given the 19th of January, 1841. The +passage in it supposed to sustain the claim of appointment of "young +Joseph" to be the President of the church is the following: + + And now I say unto you, as pertaining to my boarding house which I + have commanded you to build for the boarding of strangers, let it + be built unto my name, and let my name be named upon it, and let + my servant Joseph, and his house have place therein, from + generation to generation; for this anointing have I put upon his + head, that his blessing shall also be put upon the head of his + posterity after him, and as I said unto Abraham concerning the + kindreds of the earth, even so I say unto my servant Joseph, in + thee and in thy seed shall the kindred of the earth be blessed. + Therefore let my servant Joseph and his seed after him have place + in that house, from generation to generation, for ever and for + ever, saith the Lord.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., sec. xxiv, 56-59.] + +This is not difficult to comprehend as it stands thus in the Doctrine +and Covenants unmarred. It is simply this: a commandment was given to +build the Nauvoo House, a tavern, for the boarding and lodging of +strangers. Joseph Smith and his family were also to have a home +therein; for he was commanded to put stock in the house, and as a +matter of fact did put considerable stock into it; and his family +after him, from generation to generation, was to have that inheritance +in the house. It was to be theirs because the prophet Joseph had +purchased the stock which secured to him, and his posterity after him, +the right of a home within it. The passage does not in any manner +refer to succession in the Presidency of the church. What it does +refer to is clearly seen in the commencement of the paragraph--"And +now I say unto you, _as pertaining to my boarding house, which I have +commanded you to build for the boarding of strangers, etc._" That is +the subject of the passage, not the priesthood, nor the succession of +the prophet Joseph's son to his father's position as President of the +church. How absurd the argument that because a man's posterity are to +inherit his stock in a hotel, or succeed to the right of living in it +as a return for having paid a large sum towards the construction of +it, that therefore we must conclude that it means, too, that a man's +posterity or at least the "head" of it--the eldest son--must also +inherit the father's priesthood and calling as President of the +church! Yet this is the construction Josephites put upon this passage. +To do it, however, they are under the necessity of reading into the +revelation something which the Lord never put there. In evidence of +which, and also as an illustration of Josephite methods, I reproduce +the passage as they print it in their controversial writings, with +this exception that I write the lines which they insert in brackets in +_italics_ also, that they may the more readily be observed: + + And now I say unto you as pertaining to my boarding house which I + have commanded you to build for the boarding of strangers, let it + be built unto my name, and let my name be named upon it, and let + my servant Joseph Smith and his house have place therein from + generation to generation; for this anointing [_appointment and + consecration to be prophet and president of the church_] have I + put upon his head, that his blessings [_to these offices and + callings_] shall also be put upon the head of his posterity after + him, and as I said unto Abraham, concerning the kindreds of the + earth, even so I say unto my servant Joseph, in thee and in thy + seed shall the kindred of the earth be blessed. Therefore [_for + that reason_] let my servant Joseph and his seed after him, have + place in that house from generation to generation, forever and + forever saith the Lord.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 338.] + +Of this it is only necessary to say that a cause which requires such a +wresting of the word of God to wring a promise out of it that the +eldest son of the prophet would succeed to the office of the President +of the church after the death of his father--a cause which requires +such a reading as is here thrust into the revelation in brackets, is +desperate indeed! + +_(3) Mr. Smith claims that he was called through his father to be +President of the church by a formal anointing in a council at Nauvoo, +in 1844_. + +In support of this claim Josephites quote only the testimony of Mr. +James Whitehead, who resides at Lamoni, Iowa, and who is said to have +been one of the secretaries of Joseph the prophet. It is said of him +rather than by him, that for the past twenty and more years he has + + Testified publicly that he personally knew that Joseph the seer, + in the presence of a number of the ministry, in Nauvoo, anointed + and set apart his son Joseph to be his successor in the prophetic + office and Presidency of the church, and that soon after the seer + announced publicly from the stand, on a Sunday, that his son + Joseph would be his successor.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 339.] + +In _The Successor_, already several times quoted, it is said that Mr. +Whitehead testifies that Bishop Newel K. Whitney was present and held +the horn of oil on the occasion of this anointing. He asserts that +George J. Adams was also present; and Emma, wife of the prophet, is +represented as having said:-- + + She well remembers the time, and, though not present, she heard + her husband say that young Joseph was set apart to be his + successor. She also says that after young Joseph was anointed and + set apart, George J. Adams came down to her room greatly elated + with what had transpired, saying that they now knew who would be + the successor of Joseph; that it was young Joseph, for his father + had just set him apart to that office and calling.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Successor_, p. 8.] + +I would have more respect for this evidence if, instead of being the +alleged statements of these several parties, it had been the very +statements themselves--the statements of Mr. Whitehead and of Emma +Smith, instead of a report of what they said by some Josephite writer. +So far as Mr. George J. Adams is concerned he must very soon have +forgotten his elation at finding out who the true successor of the +prophet was; for he afterwards became a follower of Mr. Strang, and +the very man who crowned him "king" at Beaver Island.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXV, p. 718.] + +Of this alleged anointing in 1844, when Mr. Smith was a lad twelve +years of age, he himself can only say: + + Before the death of my father and uncle Hyrum, I was blessed by + the first, in the presence of quite a number of then prominent + Elders in the Church, this blessing being confirmed just prior to + the tragedy at Carthage. + +This is the only personal statement of his that I have ever seen in +all the writings of the Josephites in regard to his ordination and +blessing by his father, and it appears that he has no recollection of +the nature of this "blessing;" if he was anointed and blessed to be +the future prophet and President of the church, he evidently has no +recollection of it, though he was of an age when such a circumstance +would make a deep impression on the mind and would never have left him +in the doubt he confesses to, respecting his connection with the work +of his father to which for many years, in his youth, he exhibited +almost complete indifference.[A] + +[Footnote A: See his autobiography published in Josephite edition of +the Life of Joseph the Prophet, from p. 743-801.] + +Of the alleged statement of Emma Smith, that she well remembers, +though not present, the circumstance of the anointing in 1844--the +elation of George J. Adams on learning who the successor of Joseph the +prophet was to be, he coming immediately to her room after the +ceremony of anointing to tell her the glad news; and also about well +remembering her husband say that "young Joseph" was anointed and set +apart to be his successor--of all this, I say, it is somewhat strange +that Mrs. Emma Smith did not "well remember" it during the years of +doubt through which "her son" passed, respecting his connection with +the work of his father. How is it that she did not then come to his +assistance by reminding him--since he had forgotten it, if he ever +knew it--that he had been anointed and set apart to be the successor +of his father,--both her husband and George J. Adams having told her +so! Especially is her silence astonishing on the occasion of the visit +of Messrs. Briggs and Gurley in 1856 to "young Joseph," when those +gentlemen almost, as we have seen, commanded him to become the +President of their organization. One of the interviews between these +gentlemen and Mr. Smith was conducted in the home of Mrs. Emma Smith, +they being introduced at that time both to her and her husband, Mr. +Bidamon. It was on that very occasion, too, that Mr. Smith gave these +gentlemen the answer that he would not go with them to be their +leader, and he plodded on four years longer, in doubt as to what his +future connection would be with the church. Instinctively one exclaims +why did not his mother at that crisis come to the rescue, and say: +Why, my son, you are yet to become the prophet and President of the +church, founded under God, by your father. I well remember, though not +present, the occasion on which you were anointed and set apart to that +position by your father. Both your father and George J. Adams told me +of it--the day you were blessed, don't you remember it? Instead of +this we see her absolutely silent! + +It is claimed, however, that at the Amboy conference in 1860, she +endorsed her son as President of the church. + + She publicly bore a faithful testimony to the work begun through + her martyred husband, and said the present occasion was one she + had looked for for the last sixteen years. Said she knew such a + time must come, but had not known until a short time before that + it was so near at hand.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Successor_, p. 14.] + +And this is the best she could do! Much stress is laid upon Mrs. Emma +Smith being spoken of in one of the revelations in the Doctrine and +Covenants as an "elect lady,"[A] and since the "elect"[B] cannot be +deceived, her endorsement of her son, and her rejection of all others, +is taken as + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. xxv.] + +[Footnote B: Matt. xxiv, 24.] + + Conclusive testimony that young Joseph is his father's + successor![A] + +[Footnote A: _The Successor_, p. 15.] + +But would not the "testimony" have been more "conclusive," if on that +occasion she had given a personal statement that her son had been +anointed and set apart in 1844, by his father; and though not present, +she knew it upon the statement of both her husband and George J. +Adams? Was not the occasion worthy of such a statement? Would it not +have been opportune? Would it not have been at least more conclusive +than the argument based on Mrs. Emma Smith being an "elect lady," and +her endorsement of "young Joseph?" + +I now proceed to examine the testimony given in a general way, that +is, without reference to special occasions on which Mr. Smith was +called or anointed to be his father's successor, as prophet and +President of the church; but which represents the general idea that he +was to succeed to these positions. + + Charles Derry, whose word will not be questioned by those who know + him, says that William Clayton, of Salt Lake City, told him at the + time they were laboring together in England, that he knew it was + for "little Joseph" to lead the church.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saint's Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 339.] + +Yet William Clayton, a man of unyielding determination and probity of +character, continued a member of the church of Christ, led to Utah by +President Brigham Young and his fellow apostles, giving to it and its +leaders his unqualified support! To accept the statement of Charles +Derry is to make the best part of William Clayton's life a lie--those +who knew him, at least, will refuse to do that. I put the character of +William Clayton and the fact of his allegiance to the church of Christ +under the Presidency of Brigham Young, against the statement of +Charles Derry. + + W. W. Phelps wrote to Alpheus Cutler in 1847, that church affairs + were in a bad condition, and that he did not look for a change for + the better until the Lord should send "young Joseph" to lead the + church.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 339.] + +This is a case similar to the one which precedes it--Mr. Phelps gave +his allegiance to the church of Christ in Utah up to the time of his +death, and the fact of his allegiance is put against the statement he +is said to have made in a letter to Alpheus Cutler--mark you, we have +not the letter, nor even a quotation from it. It is the life and +character of W. W. Phelps against the alleged statement of Mr. Cutler. + + P. P. Pratt said to D. S. Mills, now of Santa Ana, California, and + to others when they were going from Utah to California, that the + church would never be fully and properly organized till young + Joseph was called to lead it.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 339.] + +This testimony is on a par with the two quotations which precede it. +The statement attributed to Elder Pratt is contradicted by the facts +of his life and allegiance to the church of Christ led to Utah by +President Brigham Young. + + Sister Lucy Smith, the mother of Joseph the seer, used to tell the + saints who called on her that young Joseph would yet lead the + church, for he had been appointed by his father.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 339.] + +To controvert this testimony it is only necessary to refer to the +"visions?" of Lucy Smith published in this work, where she attempts to +sustain the claims of her son William to be the President of the +church; and wherein she says: + + The Presidency of the Church belongs to William, _he being the + last of the heads of the Church, according to the lineage_, he + having inherited it from the family from before the foundation of + the world.[A] + +[Footnote A: See pp. 19-21.] + +Bishop Geo. Miller in a letter to the _Northern Islander_, in 1855, is +represented as saying: + + From hints and inuendoes that I heard frequently, I was induced to + believe that Joseph had designated his son to succeed him in the + prophetic office, and on this belief I rested. . . . . I had + frequent attempts at conversation with Brigham Young and H. C. + Kimball, in regard to Joseph's leaving one to succeed him in the + prophetic office, and in all my attempts to ascertain the desired + truth as to that personage, I was invariably met with the inuendo, + "stop" or "hush Brother Miller, let there be nothing said in + regard to that matter, or we will have little Joseph killed as his + father was;" inferring indirectly that Joseph Smith had appointed + his son Joseph to succeed him in the prophetic office.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 339.] + +If Bishop Miller had any testimony of any weight that Mr. Smith, the +son of the prophet, had been appointed to succeed to the position of +prophet and President of the church, will those who rely on his +statements explain how it is that with such testimony in his +possession he ran off after other leaders? First following Mr. Lyman +Wight to Texas, and after quarrelling with him joining Mr. Strang in +Michigan. Bishop Miller, like Lyman Wight, lost his honor, he was +neither true to the church of Christ led by the Twelve after the +martyrdom of the prophet Joseph, nor true to Mr. Wight, nor "young +Joseph." He became a restless man after his apostasy, unstable as +water. There is nothing either in the nature of his testimony or the +character of the man after his apostasy which gives any influence to +his statement. + + This is to certify to all concerned, that we, the undersigned, + heard Brigham Young, in Salt Lake City, in 1854, and in Brigham + City, Utah, about 1859, when he was speaking in public meeting + concerning young Joseph Smith, son of Joseph the seer, say that + there was no man in the church more willing and ready than he to + give the Presidency of the church to young Joseph, when the latter + would come and claim it. + LOUIS GAULTER, + HARRIET E. GAULTER.[A] + + LAMONI, Iowa, May 26, 1892. + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 339.] + +In line with this is the following: + + Brigham Young, at the April conference in 1854, said that young + Joseph was the man to lead the church, and that were it not for + his mother's influence, he would have been in Utah long before; + but he would come, and he would to God he was then in Utah to take + the burden off his shoulders; he would receive him with open + arms.[A] + +[Footnote A: Ibid, p. 339.] + +I have carefully examined the minutes of the April conference of 1854, +and also all the discourses published that President Brigham Young +delivered at that conference; and neither in the minutes or in the +discourses can I find anything which justifies the above statement in +regard to what President Young said at that conference. I take it +therefore that the assertion is based upon the statement of Louis and +Harriet Gaulter which precede it. If there is anything in the +discourses of President Brigham Young, or the minutes of any of the +conferences of the church which would bear out the case of the +"Reorganized church," the writers thereof would be at great pains to +publish it. The fact that they do not publish the words of President +Young, but the words of others who claim to have heard him say that +"young Joseph" was the man to lead the church, is pretty fair evidence +that they can find nothing directly upon the point at issue in +President Young's own words. + + The late Arthur Millikin, who resided at Colchester, Illinois, + brother-in-law to the martyr, said in a letter to young Joseph in + 1868, Brigham Young said in a council, at our house in Nauvoo, + shortly after your father's death, that neither Rigdon, himself, + nor any other man but "young Joseph" could lead this people, when + he comes of age, and no person can take it from him, and that to + talk about it in public would endanger the boy's life.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 339.] + +Amos B. Moore, of Lamoni, Iowa, is represented as saying: + + I heard Brigham Young say from the public stand, in Nauvoo, soon + after the death of Joseph the Seer, that he and the Saints knew + "Little Joseph" would stand in his father's place and lead the + Church, but it would not do to teach it then, for their enemies + would kill him as they did his father.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saint's Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, No. 22, p. 339.] + +Is it worth while to stop to point out the inconsistencies of this +testimony? What Bishop Miller represents as having been conveyed to +him in private conversation (himself at the time a trusted leader,) +only in the most vague manner--by "hints and inuendoes;" and to Mr. +Millikin in the privacy of a confidential council of the priesthood, +with the caution that nothing must be said about it least the boy's +life be put in jeopardy thereby--what was conveyed to these parties in +secret, Mr. Moore represents Brigham Young as teaching from the public +stand! Yet so far recognizing the danger of having it taught as to say +it must not be mentioned least their enemies kill the boy as they had +his father--yet Brigham Young teaching it the while in the most public +manner! I will not here write an apostrophe to consistency. I will +merely put Brigham Young's reputation for common sense and discretion +against the testimony of Mr. Moore. + +This is the Josephite case on the matter of Mr. Smith being appointed +by his father to the position of prophet and President of the church. +I have given all the testimony they have been able to rake together, +and have quoted it as they give it in their own works, not a word +changed, not a witness of theirs overlooked, so far as they have +published their statements. And now that this testimony is before the +reader, I ask him: What is its value? Look it over, there is not a +direct statement at first hand in it, except, perhaps, in the case of +Mr. Wight, and in his testimony, as presented by the Josephites +themselves, there is such conflict as to time and place as to render +it worthless. Not even Mr. Smith, the claimant himself, makes a direct +averment that he was ordained by his father to succeed him as prophet +and President of the church. The best he can do is to say that he was +blessed by his father in the year 1844, in the presence of quite a +number of then prominent elders in the church; but as to the nature of +that blessing he is silent. The testimony the Reorganized church +depends on is hear-say testimony only, and that of a very questionable +character--of the nature of old wives' fables, and the assertions of +apostates! + +Following the several testimonies relied upon by Josephites to sustain +their claims that "young Joseph" was appointed by his father to +succeed to the Presidency, I have made such remarks as point out the +worthlessness of each statement, I now wish to call attention to +considerations which destroy the whole theory: + +First, the silence of Sidney Rigdon in respect to "young Joseph," when +he was putting forth his claims to be the "Guardian of the church," to +build it up to Joseph the martyr. Had the idea prevailed at Nauvoo, as +Josephites claim, that the son of the martyred prophet was to succeed +his father as President of the church, what an opportunity for Sidney +Rigdon, when putting forth his claims to be the "Guardian of the +church!" How greatly would it have strengthened his position, if he +could in truth have said: I claim the right to be the Guardian of the +church until "young Joseph," whom our late prophet anointed and +ordained to succeed him, shall have arrived at a suitable age to take +his place. There would have been some significance to the phrase, +"Guardian of the church," if Sidney Rigdon could have assumed this +position. But he did not assume it, and the fair inference is that the +reason why he did not assume it is because there was no idea prevalent +at Nauvoo that "young Joseph" would succeed to his father's place. + +Second, the silence of William Smith in respect to "young Joseph" in +his controversy with the Twelve in respect to leadership. Had any idea +prevailed at Nauvoo that "young Joseph" was to succeed to the +Presidency of the church, this man, his uncle, would have known it; +and would have strengthened his own claims at that time to the right +of leadership, by proclaiming himself, as he did afterwards, in 1850, +the natural guardian of the one who had been anointed and ordained to +succeed to the office of President. But this he did not do. On the +contrary, he claimed the place for himself by virtue of being the +_brother_ of the prophet. When he failed to secure the position of +leadership for himself, he followed the leadership of James J. Strang +instead of supporting the claims of "young Joseph." Not until 1850 did +he begin to proclaim the right of "young Joseph" to be the President +of the church; and then not by any virtue of appointment from his +father, but by right of lineage; and with this movement on his part +originates the claims of Mr. Smith to the Presidency. + +Third, Mr. Edward Tullidge, in his life of Joseph the prophet--the +Josephite edition--quotes the prophet Joseph as saying: + + "I told Stephen Markham," says Joseph, "that if I and Hyrum were + ever taken again, we should [would?] be massacred, or I was not a + Prophet of God. _I want Hyrum to live to lead the Church, but he + is determined not to leave me_."[A] + +[Footnote A: Page 491.--Let it be remembered that the Josephites in +this work quoted accepted Mr. Tullidge as their historian. Italics are +mine. R.] + +Mr. Tullidge quotes this passage differently from what it is written +in the history of Joseph Smith; what authority he has for doing it he +does not say. In Joseph's own history it is written: + + I want Hyrum to live to avenge my blood, but he is determined not + to leave me.[A] + +[Footnote A: Hist. Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XXIV, p. 332.] + +But though Mr. Tullidge misquotes this passage, there is evidence in +addition to his word, that Joseph did desire and even ordained Hyrum +Smith to succeed him. At the October conference following the +martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, and the 8th of August meeting at which +the Twelve were recognized as the presiding quorum in the church, +President Young in a discourse said: + + If Hyrum had lived he would not have stood between Joseph and the + Twelve, but he would have stood for Joseph. Did Joseph ordain any + man to take his place? He did. Who was it? It was Hyrum. But Hyrum + fell a martyr before Joseph did.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Times and Seasons_, Vol. V, p. 683.] + +If the prophet Joseph wanted Hyrum to lead the church, as asserted by +Mr. Tullidge, and had "ordained" him to that position--according to +the statement of President Young--what becomes of the claims made in +behalf of "young Joseph" to an appointment and ordination to lead the +church? In desiring and ordaining Hyrum to fill his place had the +prophet forgotten the "anointing" and "ordination" of his son? This +clearly disposes of the claims of "young Joseph" through any +appointment by his father; for if the prophet Joseph appointed and +ordained his brother Hyrum to succeed him, he did not appoint or +ordain his son Joseph to do the same thing. If ever there was a case +of a claim not proven, Mr. Smith's claim of appointment to the +Presidency of the church through his father is that case. + +Having disposed of Mr. Smith's claim to the right of the Presidency of +the church so far as it is based upon an appointment through his +father, let us now take up his second claim, viz: + +_The position is his by lineage--his birth-right_. + +There are two offices and only two, in the church which descend by +lineage from father to son: the office of patriarch and that of +bishop. Of patriarchs it is said: + + It is the duty of the Twelve, in all large branches of the Church, + to ordain evangelical[A] ministers, as they shall be designated + unto them by revelation. The order of this priesthood was + confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly + belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed to whom the + promises were made. This order was instituted in the days of Adam, + and came down by lineage in the following manner.[B] + +[Footnote A: "An evangelist is a patriarch, even the oldest man of the +blood of Joseph or of the seed of Abraham."--_Joseph Smith_ (Hist. of +Joseph, under date of June 27, 1839).] + +[Footnote B: Doc. and Cov, cvii, 39, 40.] + +The revelation then traces the lineage from Adam to Noah. This passage +applies solely to patriarchs in the church, and yet Josephites attempt +in their arguments to make it apply to the Presidency of the church. +They say: + + The law of lineage points unmistakably to young Joseph as the + legal successor of his father. The law in the Doctrine and + Covenants informs us that.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Successor_, pp. 4, 5.] + +And then follows part of the foregoing quotation--beginning with "The +order of this priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father +to son, etc."--being careful to omit the clause of the passage which +shows it to refer to evangelists or patriarchs only.[A] This is the +way the passage is used by the writer of the Josephite tract called +_The Successor_. Another writer, or perhaps the same one in another +place, thus quotes it in support of "young Joseph's" claims: + +[Footnote A: _The Successor_, p. 4.] + + The order [_including offices_] of this Priesthood was confirmed + to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the + literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were + made. This order [_not the Priesthood, but the offices therein_] + was instituted in the days of Adam, and came down by lineage in + the following manner: From Adam to Seth [_Abel having been + slain_].[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX. p. 337.] + +I have written the words inserted by the Josephite writer in brackets +in italics, that they may all the more readily be noticed. The +Josephites are not only guilty of making a clear misapplication of +this passage, but they read into the revelation by their inserted +words in brackets what is not there, and what was never intended to be +conveyed even by inference. The statement of the revelation is that +the patriarchal order of priesthood was confirmed to be handed down +from father to son, etc.; and not the offices in the priesthood as the +Josephite writer quoted above affirms by his bracketed inserted words +in the revelation. + +I cannot think this is merely a mistake on the part of Josephite +writers, the matter is so plainly a perversion of scripture, that it +amounts to downright dishonesty. + +In like manner Josephites misapply a passage in the writings of +Abraham,[A] where Abraham is represented as seeking after the +patriarchal order of priesthood which was his by virtue of his +lineage. Abraham sought for his rights as a patriarch--which right +comes down from father to son, but Josephite writers make his words +apply to the office of high priests in general, instead of confining +it to patriarchs. + +[Footnote A: Pearl of Great Price, Book of Abraham.] + +Of the second office in the church which descends from father to +son--the office of bishop--the revelations of God provide that the +literal descendants of Aaron--among the first born of his sons--have a +right by virtue of their lineage to that position, if at any time they +can prove their lineage, or do ascertain it by revelation from the +Lord. But even in that case they must be designated by the Presidency +of the Melchisedek priesthood, found worthy, and ordained by that +Presidency, or by its direction, otherwise they are not legally +authorized to officiate in that calling.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. lxviii.] + +These are the only offices in the priesthood which descend by lineage; +yet Josephite writers quote the following in support of "young +Joseph's" claims to the Presidency by lineage: + + Therefore thus saith the Lord unto you [Joseph the martyr][A] with + whom the Priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your + fathers, for ye are _lawful heirs according to the flesh_, and + have been hid from the world with Christ in God; therefore your + life and the Priesthood hath remained, and must needs _remain_[B] + through you and your lineage, until the restoration of all things + spoken of by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world + began.[C] + +[Footnote A: Words in brackets are the Josephite writer's.] + +[Footnote B: Italics in the above are Josephite's.] + +[Footnote C: Doc. and Cov. sec. lxviii.] + +It is only by inserting the words, "Joseph the martyr," into the +revelation--as the Josephite writer has done--that the passage can be +made to apply at all to the prophet Joseph personally. The revelation +quoted is one that was given, explaining the parable of the wheat and +tares, and begins thus: + + Verily thus saith the Lord unto you my servants, concerning the + parable of the wheat and of the tares, etc. + +Throughout the Lord addresses his "servants" and not Joseph Smith +personally. Hence the statement in the passage that the priesthood had +continued through the lineage of their fathers; that they were lawful +heirs according to the flesh; that it must remain through them and +their lineage until the restoration of all things--was a statement +concerning, and a promise made as much to the other elders addressed +on that occasion and their posterity, as to Joseph Smith and his +posterity; and the insertion in the passage of "Joseph the martyr" in +order to make the passage apply to him personally and to his posterity +alone, is another instance of a Josephite writer's trickery. + +Moreover, the statement and promise made to all the servants of God to +whom the revelation is addressed, is in relation to the +priesthood--not the Presidency of the priesthood, or the Presidency of +the church, or any other office in the priesthood or church of Christ. +Priesthood, and office in the priesthood are two things quite +distinct; and even if a man inherited the priesthood of his fathers, +it does not follow that he would inherit their office, which must come +to him by appointment as the law of the Lord directs, and hereafter to +be considered. + +Josephites are at great pains to trace in the Book of Mormon the +handing down of records and other sacred things from father to son,[A] +and this to prove--what? That the office of President of the church or +leader of the people, descends by right of lineage from father to son! +That is, because the records of a people are handed down from father +to son, therefore the Presidency of the church descends by lineage +also! What can be more absurd than this? Nor does it help our +opponents out of the absurdity because some of those who held the +records among the Nephites were presiding high priests over the +church. Its only significance is that in those particular cases the +office of presiding high priest and that of recorder were united. + +[Footnote A: See _Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX., pp. 358-9-0.] + +Moreover, in the matter of the records descending from father to son +the chain of succession is frequently broken, and in some instances +those breaks make a divergence from the direct line. Out of sixteen +transfers of the records and other sacred things from one person to +another, from the time Lehi left Jerusalem to the coming of Messiah to +the Nephites--in seven instances the transfer is _not_ made from +father to son! In three instances the transfer is made to brothers +instead of from father to son; in two cases the transfer is made to +nephews; and in two instances the transfer is made to those who are no +kin at all, making seven exceptions to the rule out of sixteen cases; +lacking only one of being half! Out of six transfers of the sacred +things, from the coming of Messiah among the Nephites to Joseph Smith, +three of them are not from father to son. One transfer is made to a +brother; and two are made to persons of no kin whatever to their +predecessors. Josephites say the "exceptions" in this matter "prove +the rule," but a "rule" that is violated in half the cases where it is +supposed to operate, has rather too many exceptions to prove it--they +destroy it. + +Let it not be lost sight of, however, that the argument based upon the +transfer of records among the Nephites from father to son has nothing +to do with the office of President of the church descending by +lineage. + +As a conclusion to my argument against the claim of Mr. Smith, that +the position of President of the church is his by right of lineage, I +quote the words of his illustrious father. In a discourse delivered on +the 27th of August, 1843, having for his text the seventh chapter of +Hebrews, and explaining the phrase in the third verse--"without +father, without mother, _without descent_," etc., he said: + + The Melchisedek priesthood holds the right from the eternal God, + _and not by descent from father and mother;_[A] and that + priesthood is eternal as God himself, having neither beginning of + days nor end of life.[B] + +[Footnote A: _Italics_ mine.--R.] + +[Footnote B: Hist, of Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XXII, p. 55.] + +In the face of this how can Mr. Smith claim any right, by virtue of +lineage, to the Melchisedek priesthood, much less to the highest +office in that priesthood? His claim is denied by that very father +from whom he claims to have received it by inheritance. It occurs to +me here to ask a question: If the office of President of the church +does descend by lineage from the fathers, through the line of the +eldest sons, how is it that the "law" did not operate on the other +side of the prophet Joseph as well as on this side of him? If that +"law" had operated so--and there is no good reason why it should not +so operate, if indeed it be the "law" of the priesthood--it would have +left out not only the present Mr. Smith but even the prophet Joseph +himself. For in that event it would have come first to Joseph Smith, +the father of the prophet, who was a noble, righteous man; and then +after his death to his eldest living son, Hyrum Smith, than whom there +has been no more righteous man among all the sons of God who have +lived in this generation; and from him it would have passed on to his +eldest son, thus leaving out the prophet Joseph altogether, as well as +Mr. Smith. But let us leave a claim already disproved, and an argument +which proves too much for those who employ it. + +The third claim made in behalf of Mr. Smith is: + +_He was called to the position of President of the church by +"revelation" to himself_. + +Of this it is not necessary to say very much. It could only be +important if sustained by the other two claims, viz: that he was +appointed by his father to succeed to the office of President of the +church; and secondly, that the office is his by lineage. Since these +two claims have been disproven, it renders his third claim of no +effect. The "revelations" to himself by which he was called, however, +are as shadowy as the arguments by which it is attempted to sustain +his two preceding claims are weak. + +Those "revelations" calling him to the Presidency of the church, as I +gather them from Mr. Smith's Autobiography, are as follows: First, a +vision just after recovering from an illness, in 1853, in which was +shown to him, on the one hand, the busy marts of the world where men +struggle for place, power and distinction; and on the other hand, an +extended plain covered with the peaceful homes of a thrifty, happy +people. A personage who appeared by his side said: + + Which would you prefer, life, success and renown among the busy + scenes that you first saw; or a place among these people without + honors or renown? Think of it well, for the choice will be offered + to you sooner or later, and you must be prepared to decide. Your + decision once made you cannot recall it, and must abide the + result.[A] + +[Footnote A: Aut. of Joseph Smith, in Josephite edition, Life of +Joseph, p. 753.] + +Second, one day out in an open field, while considering the question, +"why not go to Utah?" he was overshadowed by a bright cloud and he +heard the words: "Because the light in which you stand is greater than +theirs."[A] + +[Footnote A: Aut. of Mr. Smith, in Josephite edition of Life of +Joseph, p. 763.] + +Third, a manifestation was given to him that he must oppose polygamy; +but in what way the manifestation was given is not stated.[A] + +[Footnote A: Ibid.] + +Fourth, in 1859, when revolving the question in his mind: "where and +with whom shall my life-labor lie," he received a manifestation--how +he does not say--to the following effect: + + The Saints reorganizing at Zarahemla and other places, is the only + organized portion of the Church accepted by me. I have given them + my spirit, and will continue to do so while they remain humble and + faithful.[A] + +[Footnote A: Aut. of Mr. Smith, Life of Joseph, Josephite edition, p. +772.] + +These are all the "revelations" spoken of by Mr. Smith in his +autobiography, or quoted by his supporters, hence these must be the +"revelations" to himself by which he was called to be President of the +church! Just where the "call" can be found in them is the thing which +the writer of these pages cannot see: and he challenges anybody else +to point it out. + +It should be observed here, perhaps, that "revelations" to a man +personally, that he is called to be President of the church, even when +clear and definite, do not constitute him the President. Something +else is necessary. As observed elsewhere, not only must a man be +called of God, but he must be accepted by the church--"chosen by the +body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the +confidence, faith, and prayer of the church."[A] Besides having no +definite call by "revelation," even to himself (judging by the visions +and manifestations related by Mr. Smith) to preside over the church, +Mr. Smith has never complied with the conditions of the law of the +church stated above. That is, he has never been "chosen by the body +. . . . upheld by the confidence, faith and prayers of the +church"--unless, indeed, the few people, scarce a corporal's guard, +who gathered at the Josephite conference at Amboy, in 1860, +constituted out of all the tens of thousands of saints in this country +at the time, the church! What of the scores of thousands of saints in +Utah at that time who never so much as received notice of or an +invitation to be present at that "general conference of the church" at +Amboy? Surely _Messrs._ Gurley and Newkirk were somewhat at fault in +neglecting to notify the majority of the saints to attend that +conference at which the only true President of the church was to be +chosen! To call that gathering at Amboy the general conference of the +church, is as ridiculous as absurdity can make it. It is on a par, +however, with the "revelations" to Mr. Smith, calling him to be +President of the church--the one is a fitting concomitant of the +other. + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. cvii, 22.] + +Of course Josephites see the absurdity of this gathering at Amboy +being called a general conference of the church, and try to escape it +by explaining that all the rest of the saints were in transgression, +and could not call a conference--those represented at the Amboy +conference were the only saints;[A] that is, the only saints who were +"faithfully honoring and obeying the law of the Lord, and the order of +his church"[B]--so easy is it to say: + +[Footnote A: _The Successor_, p. 9.] + +[Footnote B: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, p. 375.] + + Orthodoxy, my lord, is _my_ doxy; and heterodoxy is some other + man's doxy![A] + +[Footnote A: Bishop Warburton's answer to Lord Sandwich when he said +he did not know the difference between heterodoxy and orthodoxy.] + +I come next to the fourth and last claim made in behalf of Mr. Smith, +viz:-- + +_He was ordained to be President of the church by those holding legal +authority_. + +Mr. Smith was ordained by Messrs. William Marks, Z. H. Gurley, Samuel +Powers and W. W. Blair; William Marks, I think, being mouth. This is +that William Marks, who in 1839, was chosen president of the stake of +Zion at Commerce, afterwards Nauvoo;--who a year or two before the +prophet Joseph's death was associated with traitors and distrusted by +the prophet;[A]--who sustained the claims of Sidney Rigdon to be +"Guardian of the church";--who at the general conference of the church +in Nauvoo, October, 1844, was rejected by the saints as president of +the Nauvoo stake of Zion, two persons only voting in his favor, the +rest against him;[B]--who as we shall see further on, in December, +1844, over his own signature said: "_The Twelve are the proper persons +to lead the church;_"--who, in 1846, as per statement of Mr. Smith +himself,[C] was associated with Mr. Strang, the apostate, in preaching +in Fulton city and vicinity, calling upon Mr. Smith and his mother at +the time;--and who in 1860 is the chief man in ordaining Mr. Smith +"President of the church"--one possessing "legal" authority to do so! +To say the least, in the light of William Marks' record, his "legal +authority" to ordain the President of the church is very questionable. + +[Footnote A: In the winter of 1843, at a time of great danger to the +prophet, and when Nauvoo was in danger of being invaded from Missouri +to capture him, forty men were sworn into service as special police. +In addressing them on the occasion of their being sworn in, the +prophet, then mayor of the city, spoke of the danger he was in from +traitors living in Nauvoo, saying, "We have a Judas in our midst." +This appears to have had an unpleasant effect upon the minds of some +leading men in the church, especially upon the minds of Wm. Law and +Wm. Marks, who complained before the mayor's court about the actions +of these special police. After the investigation of their complaints +Joseph, in his journal, says: "Whatever can be the matter with these +men?" [Law and Marks] Is it that the wicked flee when no man pursueth, +that hit pigeons always flutter, that drowning men catch at straws, or +that presidents Law and Marks are absolutely traitors to the church, +that my remarks should produce such excitement in their minds? . . . +The people in the town are astonished, almost every man saying to his +neighbor, "Is it possible that brother Law or brother Marks is a +traitor, and would deliver brother Joseph into the hands of his +enemies in Missouri? If not, what can be the meaning of all this? The +righteous are as bold as a lion."--(Hist. Jos. S., _Mill. S_., Vol. +XXII, p. 631.) Yet this man of whom the prophet could write these +words, is the chief man in ordaining his son "President of the +church!"] + +[Footnote B: He had previously been dropped by the high council +because he persisted in sustaining the claims of Sidney Rigdon as +against those of the Twelve.--_Times and Seasons_, Vol. V, p. 692.] + +[Footnote C: See his Aut. in Josephite Ed., Life of Joseph, p. 754.] + +Zenas H. Gurley for years followed fames J. Strang's leadership, and +advocated his claims. Subsequently apostatizing from him and uniting +with Mr. Jason W. Briggs, in forming the "Reorganized church." Any +authority held by Mr. Gurley previous to the death of Joseph the +prophet, was destroyed by his leaving the church of Christ to follow +the apostate James J. Strang; hence any ordination received under his +hands was worthless. + +I have not been able to learn what position, if any, Messrs. Powers +and Blair held in the church previous to the martyrdom of the prophet; +but it is enough to know that about the time "young Joseph" decided to +take the Presidency of the "Reorganized church," they were associated +with William Marks[A] in the work of "reorganizing" the church. It is +claimed for them, however, as also for Mr. Gurley, that "they were +apostles called by prophecy in the Reorganized church."[B] + +[Footnote A: Life of Joseph Smith (Tullidge) Josephite Ed. p. 774.] + +[Footnote B: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, p. 375.] + +It has already been stated how seven Josephite apostles were called +and ordained in our sketch of the rise of the Josephite church. Seven +men were "called" to form a majority of the quorum of the twelve, by a +"revelation" through H. H. Deam; but Messrs. Rogers and Blair were not +in that number, hence they must have been "called" subsequently. But +no matter when they were "called," if they held any apostolic +authority, they held it by virtue of some ordination received at the +hands of some one or more of the seven apostles, chosen through Mr. +Deam's "revelation." Now, I affirm that among all those seven men who +were "called" to form the majority of the quorum of the twelve, in the +"Reorganization" not one of them held the apostleship; that they could +not give what they did not possess; that therefore neither the seven +men called to be apostles, in April, 1853, received the apostleship, +nor any whom they subsequently ordained. + +Further on I shall show that the church of Christ was not disorganized +at the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, nor at any other time since it +was organized by the commandment of God, to Joseph the prophet, in +1830; and therefore, this "Reorganization" which began its existence +in 1852-3 must have been a spurious institution, and, therefore, +incapable of bestowing legitimate authority upon anyone. + +The methods of argument by which the claims of the "Reorganization" +are sustained must be noticed, for they are as erroneous as they are +misleading. After the April conference of the "Reorganization" in +1853, a pamphlet was issued entitled "_A word of consolation to the +scattered Saints_," in which a justification of the proceedings of +said conference is attempted. In that pamphlet it is said: + + In justification of the course then taken, and the principles + involved on the question of _authority_, we have ever courted, and + still court, investigation in the rigid character of the facts in + the first organization.[A] Here they are: Joseph Smith and Oliver + Cowdery were ordained to the lesser priesthood by an angel; then + by their authority, and a commandment, they on the 6th day of + April, ordained each other Elders, and the eldership ordained high + priests and apostles, and this high priesthood, ordained, by + _commandment_, the president of the high priesthood, the highest + office in the Church; so that the alleged lesser, ordaining the + greater is common to both the first organization and the + Reorganization alike. The same class of facts justify both, or + condemn both.[B] + +[Footnote A: Meaning the organization on the 6th of April, 1830.] + +[Footnote B: Life of Joseph the Prophet, Josephite edition, p. 601.] + +There is one important fact in the history of the organization of the +church in 1830, which the authors of the above quoted pamphlet have +overlooked. It is a fact, too, which destroys all likeness between the +organization of the church and its alleged reorganization, and all the +fine-spun theories about the lesser ordaining the greater. That +overlooked fact is that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery held the +apostleship on the 6th of April, 1830, and by its power, and not by +the power of the Aaronic priesthood--as alleged by the Josephite +writers--organized the church of Christ. In proof of this I submit the +following: + +When Joseph and Oliver were ordained to the Aaronic priesthood by John +the Baptist, May 15th, 1829, they were informed by John that he +operated under the direction of the apostles Peter, James and John, +who held the keys of the Melchisedek priesthood, which, in due time, +the heavenly messenger said, would be conferred upon them.[A] Here +then is a promise made to them of the Melchisedek priesthood. + +[Footnote A: Hist. Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XIV, p. 15, +supplement.] + +In an address written to the saints by the prophet Joseph, under date +of September 6th, 1842, he says: + + Again what do we hear? . . . . The voice of Peter, James and John + in the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna county, and + Colesville, Broome county, on the Susquehanna River, declaring + themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom and of the + dispensation of the fullness of times. + +This doubtless fixes the place where the apostleship was conferred +upon the prophet. Now as to the time. In a revelation given in +September, 1830, referring to Joseph and Oliver, and speaking of +partaking of the sacrament again on earth, the Lord said:-- + + The hour cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with + you on the earth, and with Moroni . . . . . and also with John the + son of Zacharias . . . . and also with Peter, James and John whom + I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed + you apostles, and especial witnesses of my name.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. xxvii.] + +In another revelation dated June, 1829, the Lord says:-- + + And now, Oliver Cowdery, I speak unto you and also unto David + Whitmer, by the way of commandment; for behold, I command all men + everywhere to repent, and I speak unto you, even as unto Paul mine + Apostle, _for you are called even with that same calling with + which he was called_.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. Sec. xviii.] + +This revelation is the one which informed these men that Twelve +Apostles would be called and foretold that Oliver Cowdery and David +Whitmer would be appointed to select them. From the above quotation it +is evident that Oliver and David had received the apostleship at that +time, and, of course, Joseph had received it also.[A] This revelation, +let it be remembered, was given in June, 1829, ten months before the +organization of the church in April, 1830. And it was by virtue and +power of that apostleship which holds the keys of the Melchisedek +priesthood, that the church of Christ was organized; elders, high +priests, seventies, and apostles ordained; high councils and stakes of +Zion organized; and the whole church of Christ set in order. It was +not the lesser ordaining the higher--as claimed by Josephite +writers--that is not the order in the church, nor the manner in which +the church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830. It is true that +Joseph and Oliver ordained each other elders "of the church of Jesus +Christ of Latter-day Saints," on the day the church was organized; but +they did not do that by virtue of the Aaronic priesthood which had +been conferred upon them, but by virtue of the apostleship they had +received. Joseph and Oliver had just been accepted by their brethren +to be the presiding elders in the church, and proceeded to ordain each +other to that office.[B] Whereupon Josephite writers rush to the +conclusion that by virtue of their ordination to the lesser +priesthood, they proceeded to ordain each other elders in the higher +or Melchisedek priesthood, and that that "eldership ordained high +priests, and apostles," and that the "high priesthood," thus brought +into existence, "by commandment ordained the President of the high +priesthood--the highest office in the church." That is the order of +things by which the Josephite reorganization was brought into +existence; that is, the lesser ordaining the greater! This argument in +support of their proceeding commits them forever to that position, +they cannot escape it, and it damns their organization beyond all hope +of redemption; for nothing can be clearer than the self-evident +proposition that a man cannot give that which he does not possess. +Besides the contention is straight against the statement of the +prophet Joseph himself as to how we in this generation came by the +priesthood, even as published in Josephite works:-- + +[Footnote A: While in this revelation which refers to Oliver and David +as apostles, Joseph is not called an apostle, yet we know he was such +for in the revelation which commanded that the church be organized on +the 6th of April, 1830, it is said: "Which commandments were given to +Jesus Christ, to be the first elder of this church; and to Oliver +Cowdery, who was called of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, to be the +second elder of the church, and ordained under his hand."--Doc. and +Cov., sec. xx, 2, 3.] + +[Footnote B: His. Joseph Smith, Mill. Star, Vol. XIV (Supplement), p. +26.] + + "The Savior, Moses, and Elias gave the keys of the priesthood to + Peter, James and John on the mount, when they were transfigured + before him. . . . How have we come at the Priesthood in the last + days? It came down in regular succession. Peter, James and John + had it given to them, and they gave it to others"--presumably + referring to himself and Oliver Cowdery.[A] + +[Footnote A: Life of Joseph the Prophet, Josephite edition, p. 493.] + +There is no similarity between the organization of the church of +Christ on the 6th of April, 1830, and the alleged reorganization in +1853. The first was organized by men holding the keys of the holy +Melchisedek priesthood--the apostleship--which possesses the power to +organize the church, ordain all the officers therein and set all +things pertaining to it in order. But the "reorganization" is +accomplished by men of very questionable standing and authority as to +their priesthood; and apparently conscious of the inadequacy of even +the priesthood they claim to have possessed to perform the task before +them--virtually the organization of the church of Christ--they fly to +the untenable position, as false in philosophy as it is in fact, that +the lesser can ordain the greater, until that greater thus created can +ordain a still greater, even the greatest of all! Investigated, then, +"in the rigid character of the facts in the first organization," the +"reorganization" is found strewn along the sharp-edged rocks of +absurdity; and the conviction is forced upon the mind of the +investigator that Mr. Smith was not ordained to be "President of the +church" by those holding legal authority. + +Josephites lay much stress upon the following passage in one of the +revelations: + + I say unto you that ye have received a commandment for a law unto + my church through him whom I have appointed unto you to receive + commandments and revelations from my hand. And this ye shall know + assuredly, that there is none other appointed unto you to receive + commandments and revelations until he be taken, if he abide in me. + But verily, verily, I say unto you, that none else shall be + appointed unto this gift except it be through him, for if it be + taken from him, he shall not have power, except to appoint another + in his stead; and this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive + not the teachings of any that shall come before you as revelations + and commandments; and this I give unto you that you may not be + deceived, that you may know that they are not of me. For verily I + say unto you, that he that is ordained of me, shall come in at the + gate and be ordained, as I have told you before, to teach those + revelations which you have received, and shall receive through him + whom I have appointed.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. xliii.] + +Josephites insist that this revelation provides that the successor of +the prophet Joseph must be appointed by him. Following is their +reasoning upon the passage: + + We find in a former commandment, given February, 1831, . . . these + very pertinent and instructive words in respect to _how_ and _by + whom_ the successor of Joseph the Seer would be selected and + appointed. It says: "But verily, verily, I say unto you, that none + else shall be appointed unto this gift [of revelator, seer, + prophet, etc., for the church, to receive 'commandments and + revelations' for a 'law' unto the church--Ed] except it be through + him [Joseph the Seer];" and it then adds that even if the Lord + should take that "gift" from Joseph, he shall not have power + _except_ to appoint another in his stead; so that in any event the + successor in the office of chief presiding seer, prophet and + revelator to the church (which always carries with it the + presidency of the church and its priesthood), must be selected and + appointed through and by the predecessor--Joseph the Seer.[A] + +[Footnote A: _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, p. 358, the words in +italics are all the Josephite writer's.] + +The circumstances under which the revelation above quoted was given +are these: There came to the church at Kirtland in 1831 a woman making +great pretentions to the power of revealing laws and commandments to +the church; and some of the saints were much perplexed to know in what +light to regard her and her alleged revelations. Joseph, to set their +minds at rest, inquired of the Lord and received the revelation from +which the passage under consideration is taken.[A] The revelation read +in the light of these facts means simply this: First the Lord gives +the saints to understand that He has appointed Joseph Smith, the +prophet, to receive revelations as laws and commandments for His +church and no one else but him, until he should be taken from the +earth, provided he remained faithful to the Lord; second, in the event +of the prophet Joseph not being faithful, even then he shall still +have power to ordain some one else to take his place; third, the one +who succeeds to the position of the prophet Joseph, must come in at +the gate, and be ordained as the Lord had before instructed the +church--that is, he must be accepted by the church, and be ordained by +the direction of a general conference.[B] + +[Footnote A: Hist. of Joseph, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XIV, p. 60, +supplement.] + +[Footnote B: The revelation teaching that none but Joseph should be +the law-giver to the church until he be taken from the earth if he +remained faithful, etc., was given February, 1831, but before this the +Lord had made it the law of the church that "no person is to be +ordained to any office in this church, where there is a regularly +organized branch of the same, without the vote of that church. . . . +Every president of the high priesthood (or presiding elder) . . . is +to be ordained by the direction of a high council or general +conference."--(Rev. given April, 1830, Doc. and Cov. sec. xx.) The +"president of the high priesthood" is also the President of the +church, hence the foregoing law applies to the President as well as +other officers of the church--he must be sustained by the church and +if he is not, he cannot act in that position.] + +The information thus given officially to the church was calculated to +preserve the saints from following unauthorized "law-givers." Through +it they learned that Joseph, if he remained faithful, would be the +law-giver to Israel; if he transgressed he should retain sufficient of +the power of revelation to designate whom the Lord would have to +succeed him; and in that or any other event the man who becomes +President must come in at the gate and be ordained as described in one +of the laws of the church previously given. There was surely no need +after this that any should be deceived. But to argue from what is set +down in this revelation that the only possible way for a successor "in +any event," to be appointed to the church was through Joseph Smith the +prophet, is clearly an error; for the only provision made in this +revelation for him to appoint his successor is in the event of his own +transgression; and I affirm that Joseph Smith was faithful to God and +the church up to the day of his death. Never in his life was he more +faithful, more favored by God, or more powerful, or fruitful in +revelation or intelligence than in the closing year of his life. He +was God's mouthpiece to the church of Christ on earth to the very +moment that he sealed his testimony with his blood at Carthage, +Illinois. + +Having received premonitions of his approaching fate, he desired that +his brother Hyrum who had shared his toils, dangers and +responsibilities, and who under all circumstances however trying had +been true and just and merciful--he desired that this brother should +succeed him in leading the church. It so happened, however, in the +providences of God that Hyrum fell a martyr before Joseph; and +therefore the man whom the prophet desired to succeed him, as well as +himself, were taken from the earth. So that notwithstanding the fact +that Joseph desired Hyrum to succeed to the Presidency, and had +appointed him to that place, both himself and the one he appointed +being taken away by the hand of death--the question confronts us just +as it would have done had Joseph never intimated that he wanted Hyrum +to succeed him. And I now ask, in the absence of both Joseph and +Hyrum, where was the authority lodged to lead the church and carry on +the work of God? Was the church disorganized? Had God been so +shortsighted, so unlike himself, as to establish his church in such a +manner that at the death of two of his servants it crumbled to pieces? +Can it be that God, with whom all things are as present, had not +foreseen this fate which overtook his servants Joseph and Hyrum, and +failed to provide for such an emergency? O, charge not the Lord with +such lack of wisdom, or his church with such imperfection in its +organization! + + + + +VII. + + +In the church there are three general presiding councils, of equal +authority. These are the First Presidency; the traveling presiding +high council, or Twelve Apostles; and the first quorum of Seventy. In +proof of the assertion, I quote the Doctrine and Covenants: + + Of the Melchisedek priesthood, three presiding high priests, + chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and + upheld by the confidence, faith and prayer of the church, form a + quorum of the Presidency of the church. + + The twelve traveling counselors are called to be the Twelve + Apostles, or special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the + world; thus differing from other officers in the church in the + duties of their calling. _And they form a quorum, equal in + authority and power to the three Presidents previously mentioned_. + + The Seventy are also called to preach the gospel and to be + especial witnesses unto the Gentiles and in all the world. Thus + differing from other officers in the church in the duties of their + calling; _and they form a quorum equal in authority to that of the + Twelve special witnesses or Apostles just named_.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., sec. cvii] + +It is the order of the law of God, however, that the Twelve act under +the direction of the First Presidency, and the Seventy under the +direction of the Twelve. It is also provided that in the decisions of +either the Twelve or the Seventy, those quorums must be +unanimous--"every member in each quorum must be agreed to its +decisions," in order for said decisions to be entitled to the same +blessings that the decisions of a quorum of three Presidents receive. +However, when circumstances render it impossible to be otherwise, a +majority of the members may form a quorum.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., sec. xvii.] + +The decisions of these quorums or either of them are to be made in all +righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long +suffering; and in that event their decisions are final. But if their +decisions are unrighteous they may be brought before a general +assembly of the several quorums which constitute the spiritual +authorities of the church--in no other way can there be an appeal from +their decisions.[A] + +[Footnote A: Ibid, verses 27-33.] + +These are the limitations set to the equality of these quorums and the +only limitations, and now in case of the absence, destruction or +rejection of the first of these three great councils, upon whom does +the duty and responsibility of Presidency fall? We could well-nigh let +the Josephites themselves answer that question. They say: + + Now let us examine the order of Presidency in the Church. + Supposing the First President is absent, who presides in council + or in conference? The counselors, both or either of them. And why? + Because they are the highest authority present. True. Then here is + the key to unlock the whole secret of the Presidency of the + Church. Hear it then! _The highest authority presides always._[A] + +[Footnote A: From the pamphlet issued by the Reorganization, entitled +"A Word of Consolation to the Scattered Saints," quoted by Tullidge. +Life of Joseph, Josephite edition, pp. 589-90.] + +The closing assertion is made well-nigh as strong as type can be made +to say it; and to it I respond: that is true. Now let us consider the +situation at Nauvoo after the death of the prophet Joseph, and then +see where the Presidency of the church would fall according to this +Josephite doctrine that "the highest authority presides always." + +The prophet Joseph, his brother Hyrum and Sidney Rigdon constituted +the First Presidency at the time of the martyrdom. Joseph and Hyrum +being taken, Sidney Rigdon alone was left of that great quorum. We +have already spoken of the delinquency of Mr. Rigdon in the +performance of his duty during the five years preceding the prophet's +death, of Joseph's efforts to be rid of him and of his standing in his +quorum at the time his two associates were assassinated at Carthage. +He sought to be appointed Guardian of the church, but was unanimously +rejected by the assembled quorums of priesthood and the saints at +Nauvoo. This was clearly their right, and when the unfaithfulness of +Sidney Rigdon and his unfitness for the place is taken into account, +not even Josephites can say the church did wrong in rejecting him. In +the very meetings where he sought to be appointed "Guardian of the +church" there stood the man whom the prophet Joseph had ordained to +take his place--Amasa Lyman. But Elder Lyman had never been presented +to the people to be sustained by their vote, and hence his appointment +was not completed, and he had no claim even to the counselorship to +the Presidency. The death of the prophets, Joseph and Hyrum, and the +rejection of the unworthy Sidney Rigdon, removed the First Presidency +from the church. In Hyrum Smith there fell by martyrdom the only man +that the prophet Joseph had designated to succeed him in the +Presidency; so that not only was the First Presidency removed from the +church, but the only man concerning whom the prophet had expressed a +desire to succeed him was also removed. Then upon whom devolved the +Presidency? Upon the next highest authority in the church--the Twelve +Apostles. And as they possessed equal authority with the First +Presidency, there was nothing the First Presidency could do but what +the Twelve could do. So long as the First Presidency existed the +Twelve could only operate under their direction, but now that there +was no First Presidency in existence, the Twelve stood in their place, +with full power and authority to act as the presiding quorum in the +church. + +The church was no more disorganized by the death of Joseph and Hyrum +and the rejection of Sidney Rigdon than the government of the United +States becomes disorganized when the president dies, or is impeached. +The Twelve possessing equal power and authority with the First +Presidency, in case of the death or removal of that Presidency, have +all the keys and authority necessary to preside over all the church, +direct in all the affairs thereof, and move right on with the work of +God. + +When the Lord stretched forth his hand to establish his church in +these last days, and for the last time, committing unto men the keys +of his kingdom, and a dispensation of the gospel for the last time; +and for the fullness of times, in the which God will gather together +in one, all things, both which are in heaven and which are in +earth--it is not to be supposed, I say,[A] that in a few years he +would permit that church thus brought forth out of obscurity to become +disorganized, and fall back into darkness. The thought is +preposterous. There is nothing in all that God has revealed to +indicate that he ever contemplated its disorganization; but on the +contrary, there is every encouragement to believe that it will go on +from grace to grace, from faith to faith, from one victory to another +until, like the little stone of Daniel's vision, it shall become a +great mountain and fill the whole earth. + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. xxvii, 13.] + +The position of Josephite writers that it was an usurpation for the +Twelve to assume the Presidency of the church when the First +Presidency was removed by the death of Joseph and Hyrum and the +rejection of Sidney Rigdon, is false. The other position that the high +council at Nauvoo was the proper authority to succeed to the functions +of the Presidency is equally false.[A] + +[Footnote A: In proof that Josephite writers assume both these +positions, see _The Saints' Herald_, Vol. XXXIX, pp. 407-8] + +In support of their first position, viz., that it was an usurpation +for the Twelve to assume the Presidency of the church at Nauvoo after +the death of the prophet, Josephites rely upon the following: + + The Twelve will have no right to go into Zion, or any of her + stakes, and there undertake to regulate the affairs thereof where + there is a standing high council; but it is their duty to go + abroad and regulate all matters relative to the different branches + of the church. When the Twelve are together, or a quorum of them, + in any church, they will have authority to act independently, and + make decisions, and those decisions will be valid. But where there + is not a quorum they will have to do business by the voice of the + church. No standing high council has authority to go into the + churches abroad and regulate the matters thereof, for this belongs + to the Twelve.[A] + +[Footnote A: Hist. Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XV, p. 261. The +instructions are from the prophet Joseph.] + +Wherein the usurpation lies, according to Josephite argument, is in +this: The Twelve came to Nauvoo, where there was a regularly organized +stake, and undertook to regulate the affairs thereof. The reply to +that sophistry--no, it is not even sophistry--it is simply an +inaccurate, not to say untrue, statement. The Twelve did not come to +Nauvoo to regulate the affairs of that stake independent of its +standing high council. Their action was in relation to the whole +church of Christ, and not to the affairs of Nauvoo stake. It was a +matter which affected all the stakes of Zion and all the branches of +the church throughout the world, as much those branches scattered +throughout the United States and Great Britain as those in the stake +at Nauvoo, that the Twelve came to Nauvoo to regulate. Matters of such +high importance were considered and decided upon which the Twelve and +the Twelve only, in the absence of the First Presidency, could deal +with; and in those matters the Twelve not only consulted with the high +council of the Nauvoo stake, but they called a general assembly of all +the quorums and arranged them in their order[A] to act as the highest +spiritual authorities in the church. The quorums sustained the action +of the Twelve in every particular, and from the united action of the +assembled quorums of the priesthood _there is no appeal_.[B] + +[Footnote A: _Mill. Star_, Vol. XXV. Nos. 14, 15, 16.] + +[Footnote B: Doc. and Cov., sec. cvii.] + +In support of the Josephite assumption that the high council at Nauvoo +was the proper authority to regulate the affairs of the church and not +the Twelve, the following is quoted: + + The standing high councils, at the Stakes of Zion, form a quorum + _equal_ in authority, _in the affairs of the Church_, in _all_ + their decisions, to the quorum of the Presidency, or to the + traveling high council.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. cvii, 36.] + +The answer to this assumption is, first, that the high council is a +judicial and not a presiding or executive council, as is proven by the +following: + + The high council was appointed by revelation for the purpose of + settling important difficulties which might arise in the Church, + which could not be settled by the Church or the bishop's + council[A] to the satisfaction of the parties.[B] + +[Footnote A: That is, court.] + +[Footnote B: Doc. and Cov. sec. cii, 2.] + +Hence the "equality" here referred to must have reference to judicial +not to administrative affairs in the church. The second answer to the +assumption is that the standing high council in a stake of Zion is a +local council, limited in its operations to the particular district of +country comprising the stake. If any proof were needed to sustain the +statement it would be found in the words of the prophet Joseph: + + No standing high council has authority to go into the churches + abroad and regulate the matters thereof, for this belongs to the + Twelve.[A] + +[Footnote A: Hist. of Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XV, 261.] + +Surely no one will contend that the standing high council in one stake +could go into another stake and attempt to regulate the affairs +thereof; for that would create confusion. Nothing can be clearer in +the organization of the church than the fact that the standing high +councils in the stakes of Zion are judicial not executive bodies, +limited in their jurisdiction to the stakes in which they are +respectively located; and hence not the proper councils to undertake +the general Presidency of the church, or administrative functions of +any kind. + + + + +VIII. + + +Let us now proceed to the proof that Joseph Smith, the prophet, did +not take the keys of authority with him from the church, when he fell +a martyr to the truth, but that said keys of authority remained with +the church, more especially with the quorum of the Twelve. + +On March 8th, 1833, the Lord said to Joseph Smith: + + Verily, I say unto you, the keys of this kingdom shall never be + taken from you, while thou art in the world, neither in the world + to come; nevertheless, through you shall the oracles be given unto + another yea, _even to the church!_[A] + +[Footnote A: The _italics_ are mine. R. Doc. and Cov., sec. xc.] + +Joseph and Hyrum, then, did not take with them the "oracles" of God +necessary to make the church efficient in accomplishing the work that +God designed it to perform. Though the keys given to the prophet were +never to be taken from him, either in this world or that which is to +come--though for ever he is to stand as the President of the great +dispensation of the fullness of times--yet the keys of authority and +power committed to his hands may be given to another, "even to the +church," not to his posterity, mark you. + +This revelation makes it easy to believe that there was inspiration in +the declaration of Brigham Young, uttered when he heard for the first +time of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum. He was at Peterboro, N. H., +when the sad intelligence reached him:-- + + The first thing that I thought of was whether Joseph had taken the + keys of the kingdom with him from the earth. Brother Orson Pratt + sat on my left, we were both leaning back in our chairs. Bringing + my hand down on my knee, I said, _the keys of the kingdom are + right here with the church_.[A] + +[Footnote A: Brigham Young, quoted by Tullidge. See Life of Brigham +Young, p. 106.] + +In line also with this revelation under consideration is the testimony +of the spirit of God to Parley P. Pratt. This elder while making his +way on foot across the prairies of Illinois towards Nauvoo, bowed down +with grief at the loss of Joseph and Hyrum, heard the spirit of God +say: + + Lift up your head and rejoice, for behold it is well with my + servants Joseph and Hyrum. My servant Joseph still holds the keys + of my kingdom in this dispensation, and he shall stand in due time + on the earth, in the flesh, and fulfill that to which he is + appointed. Go and say to my people in Nauvoo that they shall + continue to pursue their daily duties, and take care of + themselves, and make no movement in church government to organize + or alter anything until the return of the remainder of the quorum + of the Twelve; but exhort them that they continue to build up the + house of the Lord, which I have commanded them to build in + Nauvoo.[A] + +[Footnote A: Autobiography P. P. Pratt, p. 361.] + +The keys had not been taken from Joseph--he is yet to stand on the +earth and fulfill all that is appointed to him--the work which under +God he had founded was to go on, is the significance of this message +of the spirit. + +A carping criticism may ask: How can Joseph Smith forever stand at the +head of the dispensation of the fullness of times, never have the keys +of authority thereof taken from him, and yet give those keys or +oracles to another, "even to the church"--how can this thing be? It +can be upon the same principle that God can give his power to men, +even the priesthood, and yet not diminish aught from his own power: +Upon the same principle that Jesus could say to Peter, "I give unto +you the keys of the kingdom, and whatsoever you bind on earth shall be +bound in heaven,"[A] and yet Jesus lose nothing in dignity of office, +in authority, or the possession of keys. Upon the same principle that +Peter, James and John, (whom John the Baptist declared to Joseph Smith +and Oliver Cowdery possessed the keys of the priesthood of +Melchisedek,) could give the keys of the priesthood of Melchisedek to +Joseph Smith, and yet not strip themselves of them. So Joseph Smith +could give the keys or oracles of the priesthood to the church and +still hold them--giving the keys to the Twelve more especially, and +yet stand in his place, without losing one iota of power ever +conferred upon him. It is a case where the one possessing keys of +power and authority can give and not diminish his own store; but even +increase it more abundantly, being made richer the more he gives, when +bestowing upon those who are worthy to receive such high things; even +as God increases the ever widening circle of his own power by giving +that power--the priesthood--to his faithful sons. + +[Footnote A: Matt. xvi.] + +It now remains for me to prove that the prophet Joseph did give the +"oracles to another"--and that they remained with the church. + +On the 7th of August, 1844, at a meeting of the Twelve Apostles, high +council of the Nauvoo stake, and high priests, held in the Seventies' +Hall, in a speech following one made by Sidney Rigdon, Brigham Young, +speaking of the Twelve, said: + + Joseph conferred upon our heads all the keys and powers belonging + to the apostleship which he himself held before he was taken away, + and no man or set of men can get between Joseph and the Twelve in + this world or the world to come. How often has Joseph said to the + Twelve, "I have laid the foundation and you must build thereon, + for upon your shoulders the kingdom rests."[A] + +[Footnote A: Hist. Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_, Vol. XXV, p. 232.] + +In his speech in behalf of the claims of the Twelve Apostles to lead +the church, on that memorable day, the 8th of August, 1844, Brigham +Young said: + + I say unto you that the quorum of the Twelve have the keys of the + kingdom of God in all the world. + + . . . . You[A] cannot appoint a prophet; but if you will let the + Twelve remain and act in their place, the keys of the kingdom are + with them and they can manage the affairs of the church and direct + in all things aright.[B] + +[Footnote A: The saints.] + +[Footnote B: History of Joseph Smith, _Mill. Star_, p. 215-6.] + +Whence this confidence on the part of Brigham Young before the church +to make so bold a declaration that the keys of the kingdom were still +with the church--held more especially by the Twelve? It arose from the +fact that the prophet Joseph had committed those keys to the Twelve. + +Elder Woodruff, writing from Salem, Mass., under date of October 11th, +1844, at a time when the claims of Sidney Rigdon were still agitated, +said: + + Has the prophet Joseph found Elder Rigdon in his counsels when he + organized the quorum of the Twelve, a few months before his death, + to prepare them for their endowment? And when they received their + endowment, and actually received the keys of the Kingdom of God, + and the oracles of God, keys of revelation, and the pattern of + heavenly things; and thus addressing the Twelve, exclaimed, "upon + your shoulders the kingdom rests, and you must round up your + shoulders, and bear it; for I have had to do it until now. But now + the responsibility rests upon you. It mattereth not what becomes + of me."[A] + +[Footnote A: _Times and Seasons_, Vol. V, p. 698.] + +That was when Wilford Woodruff was a young man; let us hear him +forty-eight years' later, when he stood up under the weight of +eighty-five years and in the presence of a large congregation said: + + I remember the last speech that he [Joseph the prophet] ever gave + us before his death. It was before we started upon our mission to + the East. He stood upon his feet some three hours. The room was + filled as with consuming fire, his face was as clear as amber, and + he was clothed upon by the power of God. He laid before us our + duty. He laid before us the fullness of this great work of God; + and in his remarks to us he said: "I have had sealed upon my head + every key, every power, every principle of life and salvation that + God has ever given to any man who ever lived upon the face of the + earth. And these principles and this Priesthood and power belong + to this great and last dispensation which the God of heaven has + set his hand to establish in the earth, "now," said he, addressing + the Twelve, "I have sealed upon your heads every key, every power, + and every principle which the Lord has sealed upon my head." And + continuing he said: "I have lived up to the present time, I have + been in the midst of this people and in the great work and labor + of redemption. I have desired to live to see this temple [the + Nauvoo temple] built. But I shall never live to see it completed, + but you will. After addressing us in this manner he said: "I tell + you the burden of this kingdom now rests upon your shoulders; you + have got to bear it off in all the world, and if you don't do it + you will be damned."[A] + +[Footnote A: Remarks of President Woodruff following a discourse on +Priesthood and the Right of Succession, by the writer in 1892.--See +Appendix.] + +The testimony of Wilford Woodruff in his youth is the same as in his +old age; the same when a missionary in the eastern states traveling +without purse or scrip, as when President of the church of Jesus +Christ, honored and loved for his unswerving integrity and truth. + +Under date of January 23rd, 1848, President Brigham Young, in a letter +to Orson Spencer, President of the British Mission, informing him of +the organization of the First Presidency of the church at Winter +Quarters in 1848, said:-- + + Joseph told the Twelve, the year before he died, there is not one + key or power to be bestowed on this Church to lead the people into + the celestial gate but I have given you, showed you, and talked it + over to you, the kingdom is set up, and you have the perfect + pattern, you can go and build up the kingdom, and go in at the + celestial gate, taking your train with you.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Mill. Star_, Vol. X, p. 115.] + +And now for a testimony from the "enemy's" camp that the Twelve were +the proper persons to lead the church, after the prophet Joseph's +death: + + NOTICE!!! + + After mature and candid deliberation I am fully and satisfactorily + convinced that Mr. Sidney Rigdon's claims to the Presidency of the + Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are not founded in + Truth. I have been deceived by his specious pretences, and now + feel to warn every one over whom I have any influence to beware of + him, and his pretended visions and revelations. _The Twelve are + the proper persons to lead the church._[A] + + WILLIAM MARKS.[B] + + NAUVOO, Dec. 9, 1844. + +[Footnote A: _Italics_ are mine, R.] + +[Footnote B: _Times and Seasons_, Vol. V, p. 742.] + +This is that same William Marks who after this testimony became the +associate of James J. Strang and subsequently was the chief man in +ordaining "young Joseph" to be President of the church. He is a type +of the character of men who founded the "Reorganized church." + +This completes our direct testimony that the keys of authority and +power held by the prophet Joseph were not taken from the earth by him, +but that he had given them to another, "even to the church," the +authority to exercise the powers thereof, after his death, more +especially belonging to the Twelve as the highest general presiding +quorum in the church in case of the absence, destruction or rejection +of the First Presidency. Let it be remembered that all the keys of +priesthood which the prophet Joseph held were given to the Twelve; and +they from time to time, as occasions required, have given those keys +of authority to other worthy men; and thus all the authority, keys of +priesthood, and heavenly powers conferred upon the prophet Joseph have +been preserved unto the church, and are with it to this day. + +The array of testimony presented, taken in connection with the law of +the church as given in the revelations of God, clearly demonstrates +that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not +disorganized at the death of the prophets Joseph and Hyrum; that such +a thing was never contemplated in the work of God in this +dispensation; and since the church has never been disorganized, any +organization claiming to be the "Reorganized church of Jesus Christ of +Latter-day Saints" is a counterfeit, and writes fraud in the very +title of it. + +Now that we draw to the close of our consideration of the claims of +this "Reorganized church," we cannot point to its destruction as we +have done in the case of Sidney Rigdon's church, William Smith's +church and James J. Strang's church; for the Reorganized church still +exists. But its doom is written as distinctly as that of the other +false churches that we have seen crumble to pieces into shapeless +heaps of ruin. It is only a question of time with regard to its +failure. MENE, MENE, TEKEL, is written upon its walls--God hath +numbered thy kingdom--weighed in the balances--found wanting! + + + + +IX. + + +_If any man thinks he has influence among this people to lead away a +party, let him try it, and he will find out that there is power with +the Apostles which will carry them off victorious through all the +world, and build up and defend the church and kingdom of God_.[A] + +[Footnote A: History of Joseph Smith, _Mill Star_, Vol. XXV, p. 216.] + +There is yet another line of evidence to be adduced in support of +the great truth that the church has never been disorganized in this +dispensation, and therefore has never stood in need of a +"reorganization."[A] That evidence is based upon the favor and blessing +of God which has followed the church of Christ led by the Twelve +Apostles from Nauvoo, and their successors in the leadership of the +church. + +[Footnote A: Josephites try to make it appear from a statement in the +general epistle of the Twelve issued in 1847, to the effect that they +were about to "reorganize" the church with a President and two +counselors, that President Brigham Young and his associates considered +the church disorganized, (see discourse by Alexander H. Smith. _The +Saints' Herald_ supplement of June 24th, 1893.) But it will be +observed that the reorganization contemplated in the epistle of the +Twelve is limited to reorganizing the First Presidency, the only +quorum that was disorganized. For the same purpose, reference (see +same discourse) is made to the re-baptism of the saints after their +arrival in Salt Lake valley. But this was merely a renewal of +covenants, which to make more impressive was accompanied by baptism; +and neither reflected discredit on the first baptisms of the +parties--from which is always reckoned the standing of the person in +the church--nor carried any idea with it that the church had become +disorganized.] + +The first thing to be considered as indicating the favor of God which +attended the church under the Presidency of the Twelve Apostles, is +the fact that the church was held together through that trying period +immediately following the martyrdom of the prophets Joseph and Hyrum. +Though aspirants arose on every hand to usurp authority and deceive +the saints, calm and unmoved stood the quorum of the Twelve, as +watchmen upon the towers of Zion. They sounded a warning when danger +arose; they reproved the saints with sharpness when moved upon by the +Holy Ghost to do so; and members of their own quorum did not escape +this reproof whenever pride or vain ambition or any other evil was +seen in their conduct. The fear of man was taken from their hearts. +Conscious of the rectitude of their own intentions, and strong in the +favor of God, they neither trembled at the frowns of men in high +places, nor fawned at the feet of those in power. With manly courage +they put their trust in God, and sought only to do that which the +inspiration of God dictated. The saints recognized in their deportment +the conduct of true shepherds, ready to lay down their lives for the +flock of Christ, and they trusted them implicitly. + +Thus trusted by the saints the Twelve went on building upon the +foundation laid by the prophet Joseph. They took steps to push the +building up of Nauvoo, but their chief interest and their most +strenuous efforts centered in completing the Temple and Nauvoo House. +The work of God so well begun by Joseph Smith, instead of being +retarded by his martyrdom, seemed to receive fresh impetus; as if the +blood of the martyrs had already added new strength to the church. Men +who had thought the whole of "Mormonism" was comprised in what they +called the "genius" of Joseph Smith, looked on in astonishment as they +saw the church become more firmly established after his taking off +than while he lived. They soon began to see that Joseph Smith a martyr +was more potent than Joseph Smith alive. + +The quorums of the priesthood were greatly increased; the number of +missionaries multiplied. Not only was the welfare of the church at +Nauvoo the subject of the Apostles' care, but the branches scattered +throughout the states of the American Union and Great Britain received +their watchful attention. + +The Temple was completed, many of the servants and saints of God +received their washings, anointings and blessings therein, in +fulfillment of the great desire of the prophet Joseph. + +This accomplished, and mobocracy again raising its horrid front, to +plague the church, the Twelve turned their faces towards the west; for +they remembered that Joseph himself had prophesied that the saints +would yet be driven to the Rocky Mountains, and there become a mighty +people.[A] Isaiah, too, long centuries before this time, had declared +that it should come to pass + +[Footnote A: Under date of _August 6th, 1842_, Joseph writes in his +history: "I prophesied that the saints would continue to suffer much +affliction, and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains, many would +apostatize, others would be put to death by our persecutors, or lose +their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, and some of you +will live to go and assist in making settlements and build cities and +see them become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains."] + + In the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be + established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted + above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.[A] + +[Footnote A: Isaiah ii, 2.] + +It gives evidence of divine inspiration in the Twelve that in the +midst of their perplexities at Nauvoo, during the last year the church +remained there, their hearts were inclined to lead the church of God +to the place indicated as its abode in the last days, both by ancient +and modern prophecy. + +That great exodus of the church from Nauvoo, with the subsequent +journey of the saints across the wilderness of Iowa and the great +plains which form the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, is one of +the most remarkable events in either ancient or modern history, when +considered in the light of the circumstances under which it took +place--a people well nigh stripped of all their worldly possessions, +teams and wagons improvised with such animals and materials as in the +hurry of their departure, under the menace of mob violence, could be +gathered together;--indifferently clothed and provisioned for contact +with the hardships inseparably connected with such an enterprise, and +the lapse of time ere they could replenish their scanty stores;-- +making their way through an unexplored wilderness, a great part of +which was desert;--seeking a destination a thousand miles from the +frontiers of civilization;--absolutely without any base of supplies, +trusting solely to the providences of God for their daily needs;-- +warlike tribes of Indians on every hand--and yet, under the direction +of the Apostles, they accomplished the great enterprise with little +loss of life, and in an incredibly short space of time! + +This exodus and the subsequent settlement of the saints in the valleys +of Utah, confirmed the greatness of President Young's genius in the +minds of the men of the world, but to all who have an abiding faith in +the divinity of the great work of God in the last days, it bears +witness that the Lord was with President Brigham Young and his fellow +Apostles, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; and confirms the +faith of the Latter-day Saints, that their leaders held divine +authority, and were the proper men to preside over the church of +Christ after the martyrdom, of the prophet Joseph. + +Not only was the exodus from Nauvoo successfully executed, but the +location of the Latter-day Saints in the Rocky Mountains was equally +well carried out. Removing the church to Salt Lake valley resulted in +founding commonwealths throughout the inter-Rocky Mountain region; for +the saints settling in the mountains made it possible for others to +establish homes there also; and it must be remembered that the +Latter-day Saints have not only settled Utah but have formed extensive +colonies in Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming and Colorado. + +The church while in the eastern states never numbered more than three +or at the most four stakes of Zion. But since coming to the west the +stakes of Zion have increased to thirty-six, each with its high +council, its high priests' quorum, its several elders' quorums, and +stake organizations of Relief Societies, Improvement Associations for +both sexes; and quite a number of the stakes have church academies +where theology is made a leading feature of the curriculum. + +Within these thirty-six stakes are about five hundred organized wards, +presided over by bishops, who are assisted in their labor of +preserving the saints in the faith, looking after the poor, and +keeping down iniquity, etc., by local quorums of priests, teachers and +deacons. In addition to all this, there are ward organizations of +Relief Societies, Improvement Associations for both sexes, and Primary +Societies for children. In each ward, also, is a Sunday School for the +instruction of the youth. Throughout the stakes of Zion there are 504 +Sunday Schools, with a total membership, including officers, teachers +and pupils, of 72,519; in the libraries of the Sunday Schools are +23,541 volumes; and more than fifteen thousand dollars is expended +annually in Sunday School work. + +In the organized stakes the saints number about two hundred and fifty +thousand; and though but few individuals among them can be considered +wealthy, yet they are a prosperous, contented, and therefore a happy +people. A greater per centage of them own the homes they live in and +the lands they cultivate, than is the case with any other community in +all the world; and they are freer than any other people on earth from +those difficulties arising in the industrial world which embitter the +relations of employer and employed. Peace is in their habitations; God +is honored at the family altars, as well as in the public sanctuaries; +faith and confidence in God abound on every hand, and everywhere one +may see evidences that God is with the people. He has neither forsaken +them nor their leaders, as He would have done had they turned away +from His gospel, trampled His church under their feet, or blasphemed +His priesthood by employing it to fleece the saints and aggrandize +themselves. + +Such is the condition of the work of God within the organized stakes +of Zion--such are the results attained, the development as to +organization, increase of numbers, and temporal and spiritual +prosperity. But while this great work has been going on at the +gathering places of the saints, the foreign work of the church has not +been neglected. On the contrary the work of preaching the gospel to +the world has been made to keep pace with the development of the work +at the gathering places of the saints. Among the first acts of the +Twelve after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum was one to greatly +increase the numbers of the seventies--the quorums of the priesthood +which more especially constitute the foreign ministry of the church. +At the October conference in 1844 the quorums of seventies were +increased from two to ten. Since that time the seventies have been +increased, until now[A] they number one hundred and seven quorums, +comprising a body of seven thousand men, whose special calling it is +to preach the gospel abroad. Josephites complain against the church +for thus increasing the number of quorums of seventy; and mark it down +as a violation of the order of the church, and quote as proof the +following from the Doctrine and Covenants: + +[Footnote A: 1894.] + + And these seven presidents are to choose other seventies, besides + the first seventy, to whom they belong, and are to preside over + them; and also other seventy, until seven times seventy, if the + labor in the vineyard of necessity requires it.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. cvii, 95, 96.] + +This they say limits the number of quorums to seven, and therefore no +more than seven ought to be chosen. The prophet Joseph, however, when +the first quorums of seventy were being organized said: + + If the first Seventy are all employed, and there is a call for + more laborers, it will be the duty of the seven Presidents of the + first Seventy to call and ordain other seventy and send them forth + to labor in the vineyard, until if needs be, they set apart seven + times seventy, and even until there are one hundred and forty and + four thousand thus set apart for the ministry.[A] + +[Footnote A: Hist. Joseph Smith, under date of May 2nd, 1835. _Mill. +Star_, Vol. XV, p. 261.] + +Not only have the quorums designed to form the foreign ministry of the +church been greatly increased, but they have been employed. Since the +death of the prophet Joseph, in addition to maintaining the missions +in those countries where proclamation of the gospel had been made +during his lifetime, missions have been established in the following +countries, and tens of thousands of the honest in heart gathered out +of them: + +_France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, +Italy, Switzerland, Jersey Islands, Hindostan, Malta, Cape of Good +Hope, Mexico, among a number of Indian tribes in the Western States +and Territories in the United States, Sandwich Islands, Samoa, +Friendly Islands, New Zealand, Turkey_, and the mission has lately +been reopened in _Palestine_. + +In a number of these countries periodicals have been published. This +is the case in France, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark. + +The Book of Mormon since the death of the prophet Joseph has been +translated and published in the following languages: + +_French, German, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Welsh, Swedish, Spanish, +Hawaiian and Maori_. + +It has also been translated but not yet published in Hindostanee and +modern Hebrew. And thus the testimony of the Nephites to the great +truths that the Lord is God, that Jesus is the Christ, and the gospel +the power of God unto salvation to all those who believe and obey it, +is being sent to all the world in well-nigh all the languages thereof +by the church of Christ; and the saints are ridding their garments of +the blood of this generation both by preaching the gospel by word of +mouth and also by sending forth the written word. + +The phase of the great Latter-day work which seemed most to occupy the +attention of the prophet Joseph Smith in the last year of his life, +was that which relates to the salvation for the dead. Of this he +preached most frequently; often was it the subject of his +correspondence, his whole mind seemed given to it. Elijah had visited +him in Kirtland Temple and had restored the keys of the priesthood +which "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the +children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a +curse." "Therefore," said Elijah, "the keys of this dispensation are +committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and +dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors."[A] No wonder +then that this matter occupied his mind when the keys for the +salvation of the dead were placed in his hands attended with all the +responsibility that attaches thereto. Following are his views upon the +greatness, importance and future prospects of this work for the dead: + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. Sec. cx.] + + The earth will be smitten with a curse, unless there is a welding + link of some kind or other, between the fathers and the children, + upon some subject or other, and behold what is that subject? It is + the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made + perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can + they nor we be made perfect, without those who have died in the + gospel also; for it is necessary in the ushering in of the + dispensation of the fullness of times, which dispensation is now + beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect + union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and + powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the + days of Adam even to the present time; and not only this, but + those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of + the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and the prudent, + shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings, in this dispensation + of the fullness of times.[A] + +[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. cxxviii.] + +And this is the work the prophet of God had in mind to do for all the +generations of men from Adam to the present dispensation! No wonder it +was the controling theme of both his tongue and pen; his meditation by +night, his thought by day. And as a proof to the world that the keys +of the priesthood which administer in these holy ordinances for the +dead were committed to the Twelve and have been with the Presidency of +the church from the days of the prophet until now, I point to the four +magnificent temples reared by the saints in Utah to the name of the +most high God--erected for the express purpose of performing this work +which so burdened the mind of the prophet Joseph in the last year of +his life. + + +Josephites of course profess a belief in this great feature of the +work of God--in baptism for the dead and the sealing powers linking +together all the dispensations that have been given to man, and all +the families and kindred of the earth; but where are their temples in +which this work is going on? Show me thy faith by thy works! Mr. Smith +claims to have been ordained by his father to be President of the +church, to have inherited his father's priesthood and office, but +where, I ask, is the evidence that he has inherited his father's +interest, anxiety, and activity in respect to his greater part of the +work of the dispensation of the fulness of times--the work that +touches the interests of the generations of men that are past as well +as those that are now alive, or shall live in the generations to come? +When Elijah's cloak fell from his receding form to the shoulders of +Elisha, not only the material garment fell upon him, but also the +spirit and the power of Elijah was upon Elisha, and he did the works +of the departed prophet. So has it been with those who have succeeded +to the Presidency of the church since the death of the prophet Joseph. +Great as the work for the living has been since then, still greater +has been the work for the dead; in proof of which I give the following +information respecting the work done in the temples of God. The report +from each temple dates from the commencement of work therein up to +December 31st, 1893.[A] + +[Footnote A: I am indebted to the Presidents and Recorders of the +respective temples for the information here given.] + +_St. George Temple:_ + + Baptisms for the dead..........................264,158 + Ordinations to the priesthood for the dead......43,753 + Endowments for the dead........................112,350 + +_Logan Temple:_ + + Baptisms for the dead..........................239,480 + Ordinations to the priesthood for the dead......43,433 + Endowments for the dead........................107,456 + Sealings (husbands and wives) for the dead......30,072 + Sealings (children to parents) for the dead......6,735 + +_Manti Temple:_ + + Baptisms for the dead..........................157,989 + Ordination to the priesthood for the dead.......28,076 + Endowments for the dead.........................67,062 + Sealings (husbands and wives) for the dead......23,800 + Sealings (children to parents) for the dead......4,449 + +_Salt Lake Temple:_[A] + + Baptisms for the dead,..........................21,750 + Ordinations to the priesthood for the dead,......4,980 + Endowments for the dead,.........................3,643 + Sealings (husbands and wives) for the dead,......3,700 + Sealings (children to parents) for the dead,.......973 + +[Footnote A: Dedicated April, 1893, the report is for 8 months.] + +The total number of baptisms for the dead,.........683,377 +Of ordinations to the priesthood,..................120,232 +Of Endowments,.....................................300,511 +Of sealings (including wives and husbands and +children to the parents--3 Temples only reported,)..69,749 + +Let us consider another proof that the church led to the mountains of +Israel under the Presidency of the Apostles is indeed the very church +of Christ, and that it has never been disorganized, or lost the favor +of God. + +During his personal ministry on earth, Jesus said: + + If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated + you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own, but + because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the + world therefore the world hateth you.[A] + +[Footnote A: St. John, xv.] + +Again he said: + + Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall + separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast + out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice ye in + that day, and leap for joy; for, behold, your reward is great in + heaven; for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets . . + . . . Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you? for so + did their fathers to the false prophets.[A] + +[Footnote A: St. Luke vi.] + +During the lifetime of the prophet Joseph from the first time he +called upon the Lord when a mere lad, to the day he fell by the old +well-curb at Carthage jail, pierced by the bullets of assassins, the +adversary was ever upon the alert for his destruction. The hearts of +the wicked were stirred against him, false priests combined both +against him and the work which under God, he founded; officers of the +law with false charges and unlawful warrants dogged his footsteps, +mobs rose in acts of violence against him and his people; he was made +acquainted with the tyranny of unjust judges, corrupt courts, and the +gloom of the prison cell. He was made to feel that the world did not +love him, that he was not of the world, that the Powers of Darkness +hated the church of Christ. Since the death of the prophet Joseph, the +same Powers which pursued him and the work he established have +continued their hostilities against the Church of Jesus Christ of +Latter-day Saints. It is the elders of that church, not the elders of +the Reorganized church, who have been hunted by mobs, and beaten for +no other crime than calling men to repentance. It is the blood of the +elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not of the +"Reorganized church," which today unavenged crimsons the soil of the +states of Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi. + +It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not the +"Reorganized church" which has been constantly assailed, despoiled of +its property, its members driven into exile, hundreds thrust into +prison, whole communities terrorized--and all this through the +administrators of the government acting under a mistaken zeal created +by the persistent misrepresentations of sectarian priests and +religious bigots--some of our "friends" of high standing in the +"Reorganization" joining in the hue and cry against the saints of God +and aiding in the work of misrepresentation. + +Yet all this has not retarded the work of God. It has gone steadily +forward. The injustice that has been done the church is beginning to +be recognized. Already the government has restored the personal +property it confiscated. And as for the fines, imprisonment, and exile +inflicted on so many of the saints during the past ten years, these +things have only contributed to spreading abroad knowledge respecting +the gospel and its restoration. The Lord has his own way of +accomplishing his purposes. To the peasant shepherds on the hills of +Judea, he sent the angels of heaven to testify of the birth of the +Messiah; and doubtless the testimony of these men was sufficient to +found faith in the minds of the people among whom they moved that the +great hope of Israel was fulfilled--the Messiah was born. But the king +as well as the peasant must have a testimony that the Son of God had +come into the world; and hence from the far east wise men skilled in +the knowledge of the heavenly bodies and their movements and their +signs are brought to the court of proud King Herod, to testify that +Messiah, the promised King and Redeemer of Israel is born. + +Preaching without purse or scrip by the Twelve Apostles, and other +servants of God, might answer all the purposes for spreading abroad a +knowledge of the gospel among the common people. The gospel, however, +was not designed for the poor and the lowly only; it is meant also for +the rich and the proud among men. And when God would have it +proclaimed to magistrates, rulers, governors, kings and emperors, he +called his servant Paul and led him through such experiences, +including mobbings, whippings, exile and imprisonment, as brought him +in contact with the great and high ones of the earth. Not only before +the judges and governors of Judea and the petty kings who visited them +was the gospel preached, but, as there is good reason to believe, it +was declared before the purple-robed Emperor of Rome. Through this +means the kings of the earth learned the Christian story and the plan +of salvation included in it. It was preached not only in the humble +homes of the poor, but also in the marble palaces of the Caesars. + +So in this dispensation of the fulness of times, the Lord has led his +servants and his church through such experiences as will best make +known the great work of the last days--the opening of the heavens and +the committing of a dispensation of the gospel to the children of men. + +Preaching the gospel without purse and scrip by the elders of the +church has been a very successful method of making known the truth +among men. There is something in it which goes right home to the +hearts of the honest. It is a method, too, which has, in the main, +built up the church so far. There are classes, however, as in the +dispensation opened by the personal ministry of Messiah, that would +never be reached by such a method. These are the rich and great, the +proud and high, the judges, legislators, presidents and kings of the +earth. How long, for example, would it be under the method of +preaching the gospel without purse and scrip before the humble elders +of the church working in that way would get a hearing before the +president and his cabinet, not once but repeatedly? Or how long would +it be under the aforesaid method of preaching before the House of +Representatives, or the more aristocratic Senate of the United States +would devote day after day to the consideration of Mormonism? How long +would the elders be preaching without purse and scrip, though zealous +as angels, before they could arrest the attention of the Supreme Court +of the United States sufficiently to have the judges sit in solemn +session, clad in all the vestments of their high office to listen to +an explanation of "Mormonism?" I risk the assertion that such things +could never have been attained by the elders preaching without purse +or scrip. Yet such a remarkable hearing as hinted at above has been +given to "Mormonism" in all these great divisions of the general +government of the United States. And by becoming for many years a +national question, it has been kept prominently before the world; and +not only the masses have been aroused by the proclamation of its +principles, but the attention of statesmen and rulers has been +attracted to it, and to them, in a manner, the gospel has been +preached. What though it hath been preached by some through envy and +strife, to paraphrase the words of Paul? What then? Notwithstanding +every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached and +therein do the saints rejoice, yea, and they will rejoice; for they +know that this shall turn to their salvation.[A] God hath not left +himself without witnesses among the great ones of the earth; but ever +and anon as they have heard about the truth and of the truth, in +cabinet council, Senate chamber, legislative hall, the courts of kings +and the palaces of princes--the spirit of God hath testified to their +hearts that the gospel they heard preached, whether preached of strife +or of good-will, was the truth of heaven, and for that testimony +statesmen, judges, governors and kings shall give an account in the +day of judgment to the God who gave it to them. + +[Footnote A: The passage paraphrased will be found in Paul to the +Philippians i, 15-20.] + +But what of all this? Why, where the lambs are the vultures are +gathered together. The very violence towards the church of Christ on +the part of hate-inspired men, moved upon by the spirit of him who in +heaven rebelled against the truth of God and the priesthood, bears +witness that the keys of the priesthood are still with the Church of +Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and hence Lucifer, through wicked +men and in diverse ways, seeks its destruction. "Marvel not if the +world hate you, it hated me before it hated you, if you were of the +world the world would love its own!" And in the evidences of the +hatred of the wicked for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day +Saints may be read the negative proof of their acceptance with God as +his church. + +My task is ended. I have taken two great prophecies of Brigham Young, +prophet, seer, and President of the church of Jesus Christ of +Latter-day Saints in his day, and traced out their fulfillment. The +first prophecy-- + +_All that want to draw away a party from the church after them, let +them do it if they can, but they will not prosper_--was proven to be +true by a brief consideration of the rise and fall of the principal +factions called into existence under the leadership of ambitious, +wicked men. We have seen go to pieces upon the rock of President +Young's inspired prediction Sidney Rigdon's church, William Smith's, +James J. Strang's, and the organization, such as it was, founded by +George Miller and Lyman Wight--none of them prospered. We have +considered the claims of the Reorganized or Josephite church, built +from the ruins of these other churches just enumerated. Its +pretentions have been viewed from every standpoint, and are found +lacking in every element of consistency and truth. Misconceptions of +the work and laws of God constituted its foundation; and the folly, +sophistry, ignorance and vain ambition of--to be charitable--mistaken +men, comprise its superstructure! + +We have taken the second part of President Brigham Young's inspired +prophecy--_If any man thinks he has influence among this people to +lead away a party, let him try it, and he will find out that there is +power with the Apostles which will carry them off victorious through +all the world, and build up and defend the church and kingdom of +God_--and have found the truth of it demonstrated in the history of +the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The favor, blessing, +power and glory of God have indeed attended the labors of the Apostles +who led the Saints from Nauvoo, and the Presidencies of the church +which succeeded them; of a truth there has been with those Apostles +and their successors a power which has carried them off victorious +through all the world, and built up and defended the church and +kingdom of God. + + + + +APPENDIX. + +TESTIMONY OF PREST. WILFORD WOODRUFF. + + _Remarks following a lecture delivered by Elder B. H. Roberts, in + the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, February 23rd, 1892, under the + auspices of the Y. M. M. I. Associations of the Salt Lake Stake, + on "Priesthood and the Right of Succession."_ + + +I realize it is somewhat late, but I want to beg the indulgence of +this assembly a few moments. I felt that as I was a member of these +Mutual Improvement Associations I wanted to attend this meeting and +hear this lecture. I did not wish to interfere with the time of +Brother Roberts. He has given us an excellent discourse, and has told +us the truth. There are a few things pertaining to this subject about +which I wish to bear my testimony to the young men of Israel. + +First, I wish to say a few words regarding Priesthood. There is no +mistake about the Priesthood of God Almighty. The God of heaven +himself has created and redeemed this world by the power of that +Priesthood; and no being that ever dwelt on this earth ever has been +or ever will be able to do or perform any work pertaining to salvation +unless it is by that eternal and everlasting Priesthood. And where +that Priesthood of Almighty God is manifest, the power of that +Priesthood is with the people, no matter what age or generation they +have lived in. And I wish to say that there has been no generation, no +dispensation, any greater than the one in which Joseph Smith was +raised up. He laid the foundation of this great work, under God, and +He established the Church upon the face of the whole earth, in +fulfillment of revelation and prophecy, from Father Adam down to our +day; and the Lord has made, and will make no mistake in regard to +calling a people or giving them the Priesthood. + +As I have said, Joseph Smith organized the Church. He lived but a +short time with us--though longer than the Savior did after He entered +the ministry. The Savior lived about three and a half years from the +time He commenced His ministrations among the people until He was +crucified. Joseph Smith lived some fourteen years, if I mistake not, +after he organized this Church. He also was slain. But before he died, +he organized the Church with Apostles, Patriarchs, Pastors, Teachers, +and the whole government of the Church of God; and that Priesthood he +organized or laid the foundations of remained with the people after +his death, as Brother Roberts has said tonight. The Twelve Apostles +stood next to the First Presidency of the Church; and I am a living +witness myself to this work. I am a living witness to the testimony +that he gave to the Twelve Apostles when all of us received our +endowments under his hands. I remember the last speech that he ever +gave us before his death. It was before we started upon our mission to +the East. He stood upon his feet some three hours. The room was filled +as with consuming fire, his face was as clear as amber, and he was +clothed upon by the power of God. He laid before us our duty. He laid +before us the fullness of this great work of God; and in his remarks +to us he said: "I have had sealed upon my head every key, every power, +every principle of life and salvation that God has ever given to any +man who ever lived upon the face of the earth. And these principles +and this Priesthood and power belong to this great and last +dispensation which the God of Heaven has set His hand to establish in +the earth." "Now," said he addressing the Twelve, "I have sealed upon +your heads every key, every power, and every principle which the Lord +has sealed upon my head." Continuing, he said, "I have lived so +long--up to the present time--I have been in the midst of this people, +and in the great work and labor of redemption. I have desired to live +to see this Temple [at Nauvoo] built. But I shall never live to see it +completed; but you will." Now, we didn't suppose but what he would +live. We didn't comprehend what he meant. Neither did the Twelve in +the days of the Savior comprehend what He meant when He said, "I am +going away from you; if I go not the Comforter will not come unto +you." And so we did not understand Joseph when he said he would not +live to see that Temple completed; it was not given us to realize it +at that time. + +After addressing us in this manner he said: "I tell you the burden of +this kingdom now rests upon your shoulders; you have got to bear it +off in all the world, and if you don't do it you will be damned." That +was pretty strong language, but it was full of meaning, it was full of +significance. Joseph was trained in the Priesthood before he came to +this planet. He understood the Priesthood perfectly before he came +here. He understood its work and its lineage, so far as lineage +applies to offices in the priesthood. He also understood that he was +going away from this earth; but we did not know it until after he was +put to death. I was in Boston with President Young the very hour he +and his brother Hyrum were slain. And at that moment there was a power +of darkness surrounded us, a feeling of heaviness that I never felt +before. I had never seen President Young feel so bad in my life before +as he did that hour. + +Nearly all the quorum of the Twelve were on missions in the eastern +States when the terrible tragedy at Carthage took place; and we did +not hear of it for some time afterwards. We returned to Nauvoo. It has +been repeated to you here tonight what was done in the conference in +Nauvoo. I do not know whether there is anyone present here tonight but +myself who was at that conference--there are but few living who were +present on that occasion. Brigham stepped forth as a leader of Israel, +as has been said here tonight by Brother Roberts, and Sidney Rigdon +also tried to get the presidency; but when his name was put to a vote +before the conference of the Latter-day Saints, and they were asked if +they wanted him as their guardian, to guide them in the Celestial +Kingdom, Brigham said: "All who do, raise your right hand," and I did +not see a hand raised in his favor in that congregation. + +Brigham then asked if they wanted the Twelve Apostles to step forth +and magnify their calling and build up the Church and establish the +Kingdom of God in all the earth. "All who do, raise your right hand," +and almost every soul in that congregation voted; and when Brigham +Young arose and commenced speaking, if I had not seen him with my own +eyes, there is no one that could have convinced me that it was not +Joseph Smith speaking. It was as the voice and face of Joseph Smith; +as anyone can testify who was there and acquainted with these two men. + +Several men have claimed authority to lead the Church, but the Prophet +Joseph never conferred any such authority upon any of them. The keys +of the Presidency after his death were held by the Twelve Apostles, +and by them only, until the Council of the First Presidency was +reorganized. + +I name these things to show that the Lord has put his mark of approval +upon the acts of the Apostles who followed the Prophet Joseph Smith in +the establishment of this great work upon the earth; and the +Priesthood will continue here and the work increase until Jesus Christ +shall come in the clouds of heaven. + +I wish here to ask a question. How has every man who has gone on his +own authority and left the Church, and undertaken to build up a Church +to himself, succeeded? How has he prospered? What has he done? Why, +just as they did who tried to establish "Strangism," and "Rigdonism" +and every other "ism" that has ever arisen? They have gone overboard. +The power and influence of God have not been with them; the Priesthood +has not been with them; the Lord has not called them to do the work +they tried to do, and the result has been a failure--a complete +failure every time. + +On the other hand, how has He prospered and blessed those who have +gone forth to the nations of the earth and declared the Gospel of +Christ to the millions upon millions of their fellow men? Why, He has +prospered and blessed them richly, and opened their way to success. +Who are they who have gone forth to the nations of the earth and who +have visited the islands of the sea, and have accomplished this great +work of gathering, built cities and reclaimed the desert? Not those +who tried to lead different factions from the Church, not those who +were ambitious to lead the people of God; but it has been the Elders +of Israel, those who have received the Priesthood from the hands of +Joseph Smith and his followers, or through the authority which God +gave them. Who are they who came here to these valleys of the +mountains whose coming had been pointed out by the finger of God? Who +are they who have built these Temples and erected edifices to the +great Jehovah? Why, it is the same class of men that was true to +Joseph, those who have been true to God and the covenants they made. +Has God made any mistake? Read the revelations of the Almighty; they +speak for themselves. The Lord has appointed this people to come to +this land; this is a great work; we are living in a great +dispensation--the dispensation of the last days. The Lord has not +deceived any one in this matter; He will deceive no man in regard to +this work. This people have traveled from place to place ever since +the organization of this Church, until today they are settled here in +the valleys of these mountains and have prospered and increased +marvelously; and they will continue to grow and increase in strength +and power until Christ comes upon the earth. + +A man cannot leave this Church without the power of God leaves him. It +has been the power of the Priesthood that made men great; and no man +can handle it only according to the order of God. If they do they will +fall, as has been stated in the revelations of God, read by Brother +Roberts this evening. I want to say to the young men of Israel, go and +do what is right; you need have no fears regarding the authority of +this work. The Lord has called the weak things of this earth. He has +called them from the plow, from the plane the workshop and the +hammer--He has taken the illiterate men of the world and sent them +forth to preach the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. Even the +Lord Jesus Christ was born in a stable and cradled in a manger. He +came forth and fulfilled the prophecies. His whole life was one of +poverty and affliction. He was scorned and hated by the world of +mankind. His Apostles were selected from among the poor and the humble +of the earth. So it is with the men who have led the Church in these +days. They have been called from various vocations. They have been men +who were humble, and God has been with them. God has established His +work, and He has sent ministers to the different nations of the earth. + +I wish to say to the Latter-day Saints, all that we have to do is to +be faithful, to keep His commandments, to be humble, to seek Him in +mighty prayer and all will be well with us. + +There has been a great deal of work done in this dispensation. The +Lord called this people to the valleys of the mountains in fulfillment +of prophecy. Old father Jacob, in blessing Joseph and Ephraim, told +them what would take place with them and their posterity to the latest +generation; that their blessings should extend to the utmost bounds of +the everlasting hills. We are here as descendants of Joseph and +Ephraim, and Abraham, who were patriarchs and holy men of God. They +had the Priesthood, and it has been continued and handed down from +generation to generation as long as God has had a people upon the +earth. He has revealed it in this dispensation through the Prophet +Joseph, and it is here to stay and will remain until Christ comes. + +I want to say to the young men and maidens of the Latter-day Saints, +have no fears from what you hear through the outside world or from +those who are professing to build up the kingdom of God, but who have +not got the Priesthood as established by the Almighty through Joseph +Smith. If you will do your duty all will be right. I am thankful for +the privilege of living so long. I have seen the progress of this work +almost from the commencement. I thank God for what I see today. I see +great improvement but there is still great room for improvement among +us now. + +I wish to say to our young men there is an evil power, a growing power +of darkness around and amongst us. The powers of darkness desire to +lead the young men of Israel astray. They think if they can do this, +if they can get them to do wickedly, they can weaken this Church. But +our young men are raised up to follow in the footsteps of their +fathers, and not to be easily led astray. + +I pray God my Heavenly Father to bless the Latter-day Saints, that we +may all have faith in Him and in the revelations and promises He has +given, and in all the truths we have received, and if we do so, all +will be well with us. We have come here upon a mission. Our mission is +a great and responsible one; it is mighty. In fact, we have been +called to leave our homes, our fathers, our mothers, our wives, our +children, all that is dear to us, and to go abroad to preach the +Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. We have been called to do +this, and as Brother Joseph Smith said, if we do not round up our +shoulders and help to bear off this kingdom, we shall be damned. No +man can receive the Priesthood from the hands of the Almighty and +abuse it but what it will be answered upon his head. + +Therefore, let us all, old and young, improve the time, live our +religion, have faith in God and His works. The Lord brought us here, +His power has been upon us; by His power and His blessings we have +built temples and beautified homes; and there has never been a people +that I know of that have ever had the power to rear as many temples in +so short a time as we have done in the mountains of Israel. Let us +remember this and be faithful, remembering our fasting and prayers, +call upon the Lord in secret prayer, and ask him to bless and direct +us. + +The Lord is with us, His hand is over us, and he is guiding this work +and will continue to do so until Zion shall arise and be built up and +shall stand in beauty, power and become the glory of the whole earth, +while the judgments of God shall extend throughout the nations. + +May God bless you as Mutual Improvement Associations, may He bless +every organization and association that has been established as helps +and governments to this great latter-day work; and may we be blessed +in all our endeavors to do right--which may God grant, for Christ's +sake. Amen. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Succession in the Presidency of The +Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by B. H. 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