Lesson 33: President Brigham Young Leads the Saints

The only scriptural reference for this week is Doctrine and Covenants 107:22-24.

The scriptural reference teaches that the First Presidency is equal in authority to the Quorum of the Twelve. Today we understand that to mean that if the Prophet dies, the first presidency dissolves and the Quorum of the Twelve takes over until the next prophet is appointed. Now when a prophet dies the pattern is established and within a few days we have the next prophet ordained--the president of the Quorum of the Twelve. It took the deaths of several prophets after the restoration for this pattern to become consistent. Joseph died in 1844. Brigham Young was not ordained until 1847. The title of the lesson--President Brigham Young leads the Saints--requires a little clarification. (Today we call members of the first presidency president--it could have also been President Sidney Rigdon.) Brigham was not instantly the next prophet. Many of the Saints choose to follow him before he was ordained a prophet, but he was the President of the Quorum of the Twelve and led the Saints in that capacity.

Though the church that Brigham Young led became the largest group of Smith's followers, there are hundreds of different groups that all claim origins with Joseph Smith. The newest issue of the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal addresses schism. This pseudo-subway map gives us a bit of an idea (you could order the very pricey journal volume here--Ben Park summarizes it here). As does Newell Bringhurst and John Hamer's book here (look at the close up of the cover).  Love the graphics. Read Joseph Smith Papers editor Robin Jensen's thoughts on whether or not it was a succession crisis here.

Neither Brigham Young--as president of the quorum of the Twelve--or Sidney Rigdon--as member of the First Presidency--argued that they should replace Joseph. On 8 August 1844 the Saints met together to hear from Brigham Young and Sidney Rigdon. For many of the Saints the event proved a compelling spiritual experience that established Young as their leader. Read Lynne Jorgenson's collection of more than one hundred accounts of that meeting published in BYU Studies here. (If you're going to read one of these extras, read this one.) For some when Brigham spoke they heard Joseph's voice, for another his visage, for another the whistle when he spoke. The Saints experiences were highly individualized and specific to their own relationship with Joseph. They are amazing descriptions that became an import collective memory.