Friday, September 1, 2023

Excerpts from The Office Journal of President Brigham Young: 1858-1863 Book D

 The following excerpts are from:

 

The Office Journal of President Brigham Young: 1858-1863 Book D, ed. Fred C. Collier (Hanna, Utah: Collier’s Publishing Co., 2006)

 

February 24, 1860

 

President Young in the course of his remarks alluded to the zeal of Hyrum Smith, Brother of the Prophet, in his views of The Word of Wisdom, who prophesied that Every Saint who Chewed tobacco would apostatize. President Young observed, he [i.e. Hyrum] prophesied by Hyrum Smith and not by the Spirit of the Lord, and that he (Hyrum would eat about 3 lb of fat pork in a day; and yet be so severe upon a tobacco chewer; upon other points, observed the President, Hyrum Smith was a man of knowledge. Once Joseph told his Brother Hyrum [that] if he would suffer him to dictate him, he should lead the Church to Hell, and he would frequently sit and sneer at the remarks of Bro Hyrum, which were frequently delivered to the congregation when they were weary with the remarks of the preachers that had preceded him. This variety of men composes those who love God, and one class have certain failings, and another failings of a different kind and we must learn to bear with each others failings while we are all trying to do right. (p. 42)

 

March 12, 1860

 

President Young said: “I will tell you how I reason—the Lord placed certain plants here for some purpose; the Lord has given us wheat & beef for nourishing our bodies and if the herbs were useless what did he put them there for. The President believed and practiced the taking of medicine, and it is better to gather up a little catnip and make tea of it than to ask the Lord to send an Angel to cure us when we can do so much ourself—nevertheless he believed in the ordinances to be used with mild herbs according to the revelation given upon that subject. (p. 53)

 

February 23, 1861

 

Telestial Glory

 

President Young attended a party at the Social all. Govr Cumming & Judge Crosby & Kinney were pre there also. While the President fell into conversation with the brethren about the three glories a which are described in the vision given to Joseph Smith Jr, which we find written in the book of Doctrine & Covenants. The President emphatically and distinctly said [that] those who enter the glory of the Telestial world will have to dwell singly and separately apart; they will not marry there, they will be happy. It will be nearly the same with the telest Terrestrial Glory—they will not marry although their glory will be infinitely greater. None but the Gods will be allowed to multiply and increase. In Celestial Glory there will be many who will be single also. (p. 212, emphasis in bold added)

 

March 3, 1861

 

President Young attended Tabernacle in the afternoon. He remarked [that] if our Saviour as here we should not like him so well as we did him—he, Brigham, was more like us than the Saviour. (p. 214)

 

September 17, 1861

 

Br Stoddard further remarked that he heard Joseph Morriss say to the brethren, “hold on a few days longer and we shall see the destruction of the Mormons and the power of God in their behalf”; the Morrissites would not join the Militia of the Territory—they would rather pay the fines. They should [showed] Br Stoddard a Map of the different worlds, showing the processions of them—for one of them was B. Young’s world, another was Joseph Morriss’s worlds &c. Joseph Smith had only 1/6 part of the Keys of the Kingdom,--also Mentioned an order of confirmation, ^of an Elect lady & heiress pouring oil on their head, saying: We annoint your head with holy and consecrated oil in the name of Jesus Christ and by authority of the holy priesthood of this the seventh dispensation, we also annoint your womb that you may bear children to the Glory of God &c. bring forth a holy seed unto the Lord and that thou Mayest be an heiress to the Melchzedeck priesthood. (pp. 291-92)

 

January 8, 1862

 

Elder E. T. Benson who had called in with Peter Maughan & Bp. Harrington, mentioned that Joseph Morriss the Crazy prophet said that these light Snows was an evidence of Gods favor to them, in their unsheltered state. He mentioned that Br. Primrose asked Morriss to show him Aaron’s rod. The prophet told him he was mistaken—he had no such rod—the Morrissites had burnt up every thing near them for fuel, and their necessarily must soon break up. (p. 334)