It is often claimed that the title “Prophet” only began to be routinely applied to the living president of the Church during the presidency of David O. McKay. This has become popularized by the late D. Michael Quinn. However, responding to one over-rated individual whose MO is parallelomania and an obsession with Jane Lead, my friend Stephen Smoot wrote:
For Brigham Young alone, a quick
search yields: Millennial Star 16, no. 35 (1854): 547; Journal of Discourses
5:161 (1858); Millennial Star 29, no. 46 (1867): 736; Waite, The Mormon Prophet
(1868), 154; Juvenile Instructor 5, no. 15 (1870): 119; Elders’ Journal 3, no.
20 (1906): 379.
He also added that
Quinn could perhaps get away with
such claims in the 1980s and 90s before resources like Google Books were
available. Simply repeating them now, however, is bound to disappoint.
I decided to track down and transcribe the references
Stephen made reference to:
[On June 28, 1854] Moved, by President
F. D. Richards, that we sustain, with all our hearts, President Brigham Young
as your Prophet, Priest, and minister of eternal life to all God’s people on the
earth. Seconded by President S. W. Richards, and carried unanimously. (“Minutes of
the Special General Council,” repr. The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial
Star, 16, no. 35 [September 2, 1854]: 547, comment in square brackets added
for clarification)
Well, the day has come when our
Governor has come out of our midst and he is in the tops of the mountains just
where the Prophets said these things should come to pass; and now the United
States are reported to be trying to force a Governor upon us, when the Lord has
raised one up right out of our midst. (Heber C. Kimball, “Correction—Appointment
of Governor—‘Our Own Name’—The Coming Test, Etc.,” August 30, 1857, JOD
5:161)
POETRY.
HAIL
TO BRIGHAM YOUNG.
Written for the Logan choir by C.
C. Goodwin.
TUNE.—“Old Potomac Shore.”
There’s a song that all are
singing,
In this merry land of ours,
On the mountains, in the meadows all around:
It sings on the hills and echoes in the vales,
While angels catch the sound,
And bearing it on high re-echo back the cry,
By myriad voices sung,
God bless our Prophet, priest and king—
Our leader Brigham Young!
CHORUS:
Hail to Brigham Young!
Hail to Brigham Young!
God bless our Prophet, priest and king,
our leader, Brigham Young!
There’s not a man on earth’s
domain
So much beloved as he;
There is no people on the earth
So richly blessed as we;
And while we give that praise to God,
That to him does belong,
We’ll thank him for, and pray that he
Will bless our Brigham Young.
CHORUS:
We do not worship Brigham,
Nor any man on earth,
but homage we go gladly pay
to mind and honest worth.
We will not lightly pass it by,
but praise it, every tongue,
And sing, God bless our priest and king,
Our leader Brigham Young!
CHORUS: (C. C. Goodwin, “Hail to Brigham Young,” The Latter-day Saints’
Millennial Star 29, no. 46 [November 16, 1867]: 736)
Not only is Brigham Young the temporal head of
the church, its chief business agent, and the sole custodian of its funds, but
he is the spiritual head, the established fountain, in whom is gathered from
high all spiritual blessings, and from whom they are expected to flow through
the various officers of the priesthood, and thus he distributed to the faithful
among the masses. Standing in this capacity between the people and the Supreme
Being, he is at once Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. As prophet and Seer, he sees
and foretells to the people what is to befall them, as the result of certain
sources of action. As Revelator, he reveals and translates, to the
comprehension of the people, the hidden will of God concerning them. (Catherine
V. Waite, The
Mormon Prophet and his Harem; or, An Authentic History of Brigham Young, His Numerous
Wives and Children [Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, 1866], 153;
this is part of a chapter entitled “Brigham Young as Prophet, Seer, and
Revelator”)
Resolutions of the 13th Ward Young Ladies’ Department, of the
Ladies’ Co-operative Retrenchment Association, Organized June 27, 1870.
Resolved: That we, the Daughters of Zion, perceiving
that many duties are incumbent upon us, heartily concur with those resolutions,
already adopted, by the departments of different Wards, and are eager to offer
our influence for the aid and support of this noble reform of dress. Inasmuch,
as our Prophet Brigham Young had led us here, into these pure and peaceful
values, far from the midst of Babylon, we believe it ignoble to imitate those worthless
and inconstant habits acquired by the world. (“The
Young Ladies’ Column,” Juvenile Instructor 5, no. 15 [July 23,
1870]: 119)
He charges that we claim the right to establish
governments in the earth, and that all governments will be subject to our
power. His accusations are basely false and misleading. We do believe that
eventually Christ will come upon the earth to reign as King of kings and Lord
of lords. But the Bible supports this doctrine. Jesus and His apostles are
advocates of this great scriptural principle, and inasmuch as we are Christians—not
Wishardites—naturally we believe what God has spoken on this question. But listen
a moment. Hear once more the words of our pioneer, or statesman, our Prophet of
the Lord, Brigham Young:
“When the day comes in which the kingdoms of God
will bear rule, the flag of the United States will proudly flutter unsullied on
the flagstaff of liberty and equal rights without a spot to sully its fair
surface; the glorious flag of our fathers have bequeathed to us will then be
unfurled to the breeze by those who have power to hoist it aloft, and defend
its sanctify.” (Ben R. Rich, “Editorial:
Charges Against Mormonism,” Elders’ Journal 3, no. 20 [June 15,
1906]: 379-80; notice also that the author believes Latter-day Saints belong to
the category of “Christian”)