Brother Brigham lived through all the early and extremely tough years of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons. He served with Joseph Smith, Jr. as a friend, a brother in the gospel and an apostle of the Lord, which is a special witness of Jesus Christ. He so loved, honored and cherished his association with the prophet of the restoration, Brother Joseph, that on his deathbed the last words, of recognition and joy, from his mouth were, “Joseph, Joseph, Joseph.”
praying about the truthfulness of it and the prophet who had translated it. When the answer came to him, strong and clear, there was no turning back.
From that day forth he was dedicated to the work of the Lord and the man who had been called to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ in its entirety. Of Joseph he said,
“I feel like shouting Hallelujah, all the time, when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet whom the Lord raised up and ordained, and to whom he gave keys and power to build up the Kingdom of God on earth and sustain it” (DBY, 456). Throughout his life as a Church leader, he expressed love and admiration for the Prophet Joseph Smith: “I can truly say, that I invariably found him to be all that any people could require a true prophet to be, and that a better man could not be, though he had his weaknesses; and what man has ever lived upon this earth who had none?” (“Chapter 47: President Brigham Young’s Witness of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, 343)
And indeed he did, loud and clear and as often as he could. Of Joseph’s calling as the prophet of the restoration, Brigham bore witness of with strength and power:
It was decreed in the counsels of eternity, long before the foundations of the earth were laid, that he, Joseph Smith, should be the man, in the last dispensation of this world, to bring forth the word of God to the people, and receive the fulness of the keys and power of the Priesthood of the Son of God. The Lord had his eyes upon him, and upon his father, and upon his father’s father, and upon their progenitors clear back to Abraham, and from Abraham to the flood, from the flood to Enoch, and from Enoch to Adam. He has watched that family and that blood as it has circulated from its fountain to the birth of that man. He was fore-ordained in eternity to preside over this last dispensation (DBY, 108). (“Chapter 47: President Brigham Young’s Witness of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, 343)
Indeed, Joseph was called from before the foundations of the world were ever built. Brigham had often said that if he could gaze upon the face of a prophet of God, such as those in the Old Testament, who had seen the face of God and spoken with Him, he would fall to the earth in gratitude for that gift. The first time he heard Joseph Smith preach Brigham said he “brought heaven and earth together.” He said that Joseph never taught more than “pure truth, and this I personally have received a testimony of . . . a testimony that is available to anyone willing to kneel in humble prayer and ask Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ if this be true.
Brigham went on to say:
I never saw any one, until I met Joseph Smith, who could tell me anything about the character, personality and dwelling-place of God, or anything satisfactory about angels, or the relationship of man to his Maker. Yet I was as diligent as any man need to be to try and find out these things (DBY, 458).
He took heaven, figuratively speaking, and brought it down to earth; and he took the earth, brought it up, and opened up, in plainness and simplicity, the things of God; and that is the beauty of his mission. I had a testimony, long before that, that he was a Prophet of the Lord, and that was consoling. Did not Joseph do the same to your understandings? Would he not take the Scriptures and make them so plain and simple that everybody could understand? Every person says, “Yes, it is admirable; it unites the heavens and the earth together,” and as for time, it is nothing, only to teach us how to live in eternity (DBY, 458–59).
I honor and revere the name of Joseph Smith. I delight to hear it; I love it. I love his doctrine (DBY, 458). (“Chapter 47: President Brigham Young’s Witness of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, 343)
You have only to study the teachings of Joseph Smith, Jr. to know how true that was. In his preaching of the gospel principles revealed to him, the Holy Ghost testifies of truth with a burning in your bosom so strong it courses throughout your entire body. Joseph never feared truth, only sought after it in its purest form. This Brigham knew for himself and he remained loyal to Joseph Smith, Jr. unto death.
They survived persecution together. They survived insurrection together. They survived being driven from city to city and state to state together. When Joseph Smith was assassinated, Brigham’s heart was torn from his chest. His beloved prophet, seer and revelator was gone. His heart heavy, he returned to Nauvoo to see to the affairs of the Church.
Who delivered Joseph Smith from the hands of his enemies [until] the day of his death? It was God; though he was brought to the brink of death time and time again, and, to all human appearance, could not be delivered, and there was no probability of his being saved. When he was in jail in Missouri, and no person expected that he would ever escape from their hands, I had the faith of Abraham, and told the brethren, “As the Lord God liveth, he shall come out of their hands.” Though he had prophesied that he would not live to be forty years of age, yet we all cherished hopes that that would be a false prophecy, and we should keep him forever with us; we thought our faith would outreach it, but we were mistaken—he at last fell a martyr to his religion. I said, “It is all right; now the testimony is in full force; he has sealed it with his blood” (DBY, 469–70).
His office is not taken from him, he has only gone to labor in another department of the operations of the Almighty. He is still an Apostle, still a Prophet, and is doing the work of an Apostle and Prophet; he has gone one step beyond us and gained a victory that you and I have not gained (DBY, 468).
I know that [Joseph Smith] was called of God, and this I know by the revelations of Jesus Christ to me, and by the testimony of the Holy Ghost. Had I not so learned this truth, I should never have been what is called a “Mormon,” neither should I have been here to-day (DNW, 22 Oct. 1862, 2). (“Chapter 47: President Brigham Young’s Witness of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, 343)
