Brigham Young also
brought his doctrinal revelation that “we are in Eternity, [and] the Millennium
has now commenced” to the body of the Council of Fifty before presenting it to
the Church (Nauvoo Council of Fifty Minutes <27 February 1845>
page 533. This doctrine as publicly announced at the following conference, see Complete
Discourses of Brigham Young <6 April 1845> page 80). Two years later,
he presented “The Word and Will of the Lord”, now canonized in D&C 136, to
the Council of Fifty the day after receiving it—before presenting it to the
High Council or other quorums.
From the real world contemporary
evidence of the Fifty receiving revelations, it isn’t surprising that multiple
independent sources identify a function of the Fifty was to test and approve
revelations before they were to be presented to the Church.
Almon Babbitt in the
Council of Fifty minutes commented that “When a revelation comes from the
proper sources that is the law to him, but he understands that when a subject
is presented before this council we have to investigate it and when we agree
upon it that is a revelation; that is the mind of God” (Council of
Fifty Minutes <11 March 1845> page 307). Babbitt believed the
revelations given to the body by the “proper source” – the Prophet, Priest, and
King over the Council (Joseph Smith told the council on April 18, 1844: “It is
not wisdom to use the term ‘king’ all the while. Let us use the term ‘proper
source’ instead of ‘king’ and it will be all understood and no person can take advantage.’
[Nauvoo Council of Fifty Minutes <18 April 1844> page 128) – were “law”
without question, however the Council held the prerogative to investigate
matters and when they came to a consensus was “the mind of God”. The minutes record
no one objecting or correcting his claim ascribing the authority to test
revelations to the body.
Later, Peter Haws and
James Whitehead also asserted that the Council of Fifty was a quorum where revelations
were to be tested and approved before being brought before the Church, Peter
Haws commenting that “no Revelation could be given as a command to the Church
without the sanction of the Fifty” (The Council of Fifty: A Documentary History
page 188). Almost identically, James Whitehead, described the Council of
Fifty as the ultimate head of Church government stated that “no revelation or
law could go to the church without being presented to and sanctioned by this body
of fifty” (Saints’ Herald vol. 26 no 6 <15 March 1879> page 87). (Jacob
Vidrine, “New Light on Joseph Smith’s ‘Last Charge,’” One Eternal Round: A
Magazine Dedicated to Mormon History and Theology, issue 4 [15 September
2019]: 42-44)
