Leonard Arrington Brigham Young: American Moses

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“Hold on,” says I…. “Wait a little while; what is the doctrine of the book, and the revelations the lord has given? Let me apply my heart to them”; and after I had done this, I considered it to be my right to know for myself, as much as any man on earth. 

I examined the matter studiously for two years before I made up my mind to receive that book. I knew it was true, as well as I knew that I could see with my eyes, or feel by the touch of my fingers, or be sensible of the demonstration of any sense. Had not this been the case, I never would have embraced it to this day; it would have all been without form or comeliness to me. I wished time sufficient to prove all things for myself. I wished time sufficient to prove all things for myself. Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.19-20 More complete context in JD 3:91

His father was the stricter of the parents- with John it was “a word and a blow … but the blow came first (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.21)

With such a religious background it is not surprising that several of the Young boys later became exhorters…… Joseph (Young) the, next son, “was very moral and devoted,” becoming attached to religion” at an early age.

….In 1816, barely nine years old, Lorenzo had a startling dream:

….It stepped near me and the savior inquired, “Where is your brother Brigham?”…..he wanted us all but especially my brother Brigham…..

Brigham angrily retorted” “ ‘Mr. Pratt, if you will step here into the middle of the floor I will show you how to dirty coats.’ But he dared not try it.”….

On the other hand, he had inherited a religious intensity unusual even for that era in the “Burned-Over District” of Western New York, …… (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.22-5)
“Mr. Pratt, if you will step here into the middle of the floor I will show you how to dirty coats.” Comment Journal of Discourses 16:17

…. Many men will say they have a violent temper, and try to so excuse themselves for actions of which they are ashamed. I will say, there is not a man in this house who has a more indomitable and unyielding temper than myself. But there is not a man in the world who cannot overcome his passion, if he will struggle earnestly to do so. If you find passion coming on you, go off to some place where you cannot be heard; let none of your family see you or hear you, while it is upon you, but struggle till it leaves you; and pray for strength to overcome….. Journal of Discourses 11:290 
 
In late October 1838, besides his friend Heber, only Parley and Orson Pratt and the unstable William Smith remained of the original Twelve.

ON October 27, Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued his "Exterminating Order," which instructed the militia commander: (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.66)

On April 1, the twelve assembled in…. If one counts a few backsliders, the total number of converts approached 6,000. Clearly the twelve had set the impetus for a Mormon community …more than 38,000….to the Salt Lake Valley by 1870…..

We landed ….. as strangers in a strange land, and penniless, but through the mercy of God ……baptized between seven and eight thousand, …… (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.95-6)

Brigham later described his emotions on first learning about plural marriage:

Some of these my brethren know what my feelings were at the time Joseph revealed the doctrine; I was not desirous of shrinking from any duty, nor of failing in the least to do as I was commanded, but it was the first time in my life that I had desired the grave, and I could hardly get over it for a long time. And when I saw a funeral, I felt to envy the corpse its situation, and to regret that I was not in the coffin, knowing the toil and labor that my body would have to undergo; and I have had to examine myself, from that day to this, and watch my faith, and carefully meditate, lest I should be found desiring the grave more than I ought to do. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.100)
(Brigham Young “Journal of Discourses” v.3 p.266)

Welcomed into Illinois for humanitarian and political reasons in 1839, the Mormons were watched with growing mistrust by other residents in the region…… then, in the summer of 1842, John C. Bennet, an opportunist convert who had become mayor of Nauvoo….. published …book called the History of the Saints; or an Expose of Joe Smith and Mormonism (1842)….. In May of 1842, an attempt had been made to murder Lilburn W. Boggs, the Missouri governor who had led the drive to “exterminate” the Mormons in that state. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.103)

At issue was, as Orson Pratt put it, the "propriety or expediency now" of so doing when the church had prospered for three and a half ... I am going to go it, the Lord being my helper If I had to mouthpiece dictating…. If I see you going to the devil chastise chains fly (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.154-5)

Thomas Bullock, who had kept a detailed journal of the 1847 trek, again accepted responsibility for chronicling the day-to-day events of the 1848 "camp." He did so with a comparative eye, frequently evaluating the journey's progress in light of "what it was last year when pioneering."17 Bullock's painstaking census of Brigham's 1848 division included 397 wagons, 1,229 souls, 74 horses, 1,275 oxen, 699 cows, 184 loose cattle, 411 sheep, 141 pigs, 605 chickens, 37 cats, 82 dogs, three goats, 10 geese, two beehives, eight doves and a solitary crow.2

After spending several days on horseback between Winter Quarters and Elkhorn assuring that everything was in order, Brigham and his immediate family departed May 26. Brigham's own notation reads: "On the 26th I started on my journey to the mountains, leaving my houses, mills and the temporary furniture I had acquired during our sojourn there [Winter Quarters]. This was the fifth time I had left my home and property since I embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ."3 Brigham organized his company into groups of hundreds, fifties and tens, with corresponding leaders. General camp instructions were: "Not to abuse cattle but take care of them; not to yell and bawl or make any noise nor to be up at nights; but attend prayers and go to bed by nine and put out the fires."4
…
One disturbing incident occurred almost at the very start. A rule had been established that no wagon in the procession should stop, because this would cause a break in the train and encourage an Indian attack. Lucy Groves attempted to climb out of her wagon while it was in motion. Weak from having given birth just 10 days before, she slipped and fell in front of the front wheel. It ran over her body and broke three ribs. Her husband was standing close by and grabbed her as quickly as he could to prevent the hind wheel from running over her, too. But her leg was broken as well. Brigham went to her immediately, set her leg and gave her a blessing assuring her that she would reach Salt Lake in good condition.

Lucy's children had to walk from then on, as the bed upon which she lay took up all the room in the wagon. Her 13-year old daughter assumed her mother's tasks - cooking, washing, caring for the little children. But on the ninth day out, when it seemed that the leg was knitting satisfactorily and Lucy soon would be up, the daughter accidentally stumbled over her mother's leg, breaking it a second time. This time the pain was so severe that Lucy cried out in agony at every step the oxen took. She finally told her husband that he would have to pull out of the train and stop. When Brigham saw the wagon pull to one side, he stopped the entire train and rode back to where Lucy was. Tears were falling down her cheeks as she explained the situation and urged him to go on without them. Brigham replied that he would do no such thing - he would not leave any of his people alone. Instead, he made camp for the night, sawed off the tops and bottoms of the legs of the poster bed so there was nothing left but the frame around the mattress and the springs, which were laced across pioneer style. He fastened this to the wagon bows so it would swing easily, like a hammock. He then renewed his blessing to Lucy, promising her she would live many years. He rode by her side for several days to make sure that she had no further trouble. "With this gentle kind manner," wrote Lucy's grandson, "he won the love of Lucy and her posterity forever."5

One of Brigham's teamsters, Oliver Huntington, who had just returned from a mission to England, wrote that on the way up the Platte River, through the Black Hills and other desolate portions of the trail, they occasionally made camp early in order to take advantage of good camping grounds.

On such occasions [Brigham] would walk around the great corral formed by the 270 wagons formed in a circle, and when he came to a teamster or others that offered him an inviting occasion to sit down and "chat," down he went on the wagon tongue, ox yoke, or any thing else convenient, not refusing even the earth, where there were a few bunches of grass.

On some of these occasions I enjoyed personally his visit, and there on that old flat wagon tongue with the end resting on an ox- yoke, we sat and talked of the many places we were both acquainted with in Preston, Clithero and other shires and towns in England. Then turning conversation to the West, he related incidents in pioneering his way to the great valley of Salt Lake, the year previous, 1847. Those conversations to me were fairly enchanting. I listened with that attention that never allows the mind to forget.6…..

It was also Huntington who later commented on the general condition of the camp - and to record an incident that caused Brigham to chuckle: "As yet the camp and - in fine, all the camps had got along well, and with few accidents. Three had been run over in our camp and one wagon turned over which was brother Gates'. He blamed his women severely for it, and what mortified him worse than all, it disclosed a bottle of wine; before unknown. The wagon turned square bottom side up, no one in it. That night he quarreled with his wife and whipped her. The guard about 11 o'clock saw it and when the hour came to cry, he loudly cried 11 o'clock, all is well and Gates is quarreling with his wife like hell."7 ……

Despite the often tortuous physical aspects of the journey, not to mention the weight of his leadership responsibilities, Brigham refused to let himself be burdened unduly. In order that his body could keep pace with his mind, as he expressed it, Brigham joined with his fellow migrants in occasional dancing, songfests and comical readings. One young woman, traveling in a different company from Brigham's, recalled an exasperating visit to Independence Rock: "We heard so much of independence Rock long before we got there. They said we should have a dance on top of it, as we had many a dance while on the plains. We thought it would be so nice, but when we got there, the company was so small it was given up ... We had not a note of music or a musician. I was told afterwards by some of the girls that we had traveled with that they had a party there, but President Young had all the music with him."8 …..

The general attitude of the camp was expressed by one of the travelers, who wrote: "We are as comfortable and happy as most of the stationary communities. For if we have not all that our wants may call for, we have the art of lessening our wants, which does as well."9

About 2 p.m. on July 23, Louisa Beaman Young was delivered of male twins, "which very much delighted Pres. B.Y., the Father of the children."10 Both mother and twins were apparently in good health and arrived safely in the valley less than two months later.

By September 3, the company was traveling in view of the snow- covered Wind River mountain chain. During the day, an incident occurred that served to demonstrate Brigham's blend of compassion and discipline. The camp met two families who had left the valley and were returning to Missouri to live. President Young, according to Bullock, "gave them a very severe lecture on their going to serve the Devil among our enemies. On finishing, he told them to go in peace, but never to return to the Valley, until they knew they were Saints indeed, and their names would be blotted out of remembrance." Then, added Bullock, "he gave them 25 lb. Meal to feed them."

Between September 17 and 19, a "gathering" apparently took place among the Saints preparatory to their entry into the Salt Lake Valley. Throughout the journey various companies had been in the lead position, with others strung out behind them over many miles. In fact, Brigham's company was rarely in the forefront, for the president and his companions were often to be found assisting companies who had suffered illness, injury or mechanical breakdowns. But now, nearing the end of their long march, those ahead of Brigham's group stopped and waited. "This halt," wrote John Pulsipher in his journal, "was in. honor of President Young, the leader of Israel. The companies that have traveled ahead of him, except a few stragglers, stopped and waited until he passed into the valley in his place, at the head of the joyful multitude."11 When Brigham passed, all fell into line behind him.

Having taken the lead, Brigham and his immediate company entered the Salt Lake Valley on September 20. John Taylor, senior apostle in the Salt Lake Valley, started out on horseback to meet the president, astride "a Spanish pony." As they were riding across the fort where most of the people were living, his horse reared, Taylor was injured, and he could not proceed. Upon his arrival Brigham called to see him. According to Mary Isabella Horne, who was present, Brigham remarked that Taylor's horse was like many people, "only the people had the stiffness in their necks and the horses had it in their legs."12

The last wagons rolled into the main fort four days later. That afternoon Brigham addressed a large congregation of Saints at the Bowery (an open-air meeting place covered with limbs and leaves), erected for public meetings on Temple Square. He commended the people for their "industry" and expressed his "joy in being able to come here in safety. That this is the place he had seen before he came here & it was the place for the Saints to gather. 13

At the end of a 1,031-mile journey, Thomas Bullock recorded "86 travelling days at an average of 12 miles per day; 36 days lay still. Total 122 days from Winter Quarters to Great Salt Lake City."14
Brigham had made his long trek to Zion for the last time. He was in his new home, where he would spend the next 29 years. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.157-66)

Oliver Huntington (diary) Gates’ quarreled with his wife whipped her guard saw it at called all is well Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 extended excerpt with breaks cited at Heritage Gateways
Oliver Huntington (diary)

The Colonizer President

My soul feels hallelujah, it exults in God, that He has planted this people in a place that is ... I want hard times, so that even' person that does not wish to stay, for the sake of his religion, will leave.
Bullock's receipt was each man's title to his land. Unmarried men were not given a land allotment, but polygamists were entitled to receive one for each family. Widows and divorced women who were heads of families also participated in (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.167-8)

To a group petitioning to return to Rockport from Wanship, Utah, he wrote: I do not wish to give you any counsel upon this subject, nor to assume any responsibility connected with it. You can do as you please. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.178)

Although willing to open books for legitimate inquiries, Brigham did not welcome criticism of his use of church funds. On one occasion, he heard complaints about his project in the 1850s to build a wall around the city, as well as the Temple Block and his own estate. His reply was more testy than usual:
Some have wished me to explain why we build an adobe wall around this city. Are there any Saints who stumble at such things? (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.182-3)

God, by his spirit, has revealed many things to His people, but, in almost all cases, He has straightway shut up the vision of the mind. He will let his servants gaze upon eternal things for a moment, but straightaway the vision is closed, and they are left as they were, that they may learn to act by faith, or as the Apostle has it, not walking by sight, but by faith. Journal of discourses v.1 p.264

With that God whom we serve, who holds all things in His hands, that we know anything of; He is the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, who at one survey looks upon all the workmanship of His hands; who has the words of eternal life, and holds the hearts of children of men in His hand, and turns them whithersoever He will, even as the rivers of waters are turned; who commands the earth to perform its revolutions or stand still, at His pleasure; who has given the sun, the planets, the earths, and far distant systems their orbits, their times, and their seasons; whose commands they all obey. With Him abide the true riches.

I will now notice the character who exhibited the power of true riches on the earth, though he himself was in a state of abject poverty, to all human appearances, for he was made poor that we might be made rich and he descended below all things that he might ascend above all things. When the only begotten Son of God was upon the earth, he understood the nature of these elements, how they were brought together to make this world and all things that are thereon, for he helped to make them. He had the power of organizing, what we would call, in a miraculous manner. That which to him is no miracle, is called miraculous by the inhabitants of the earth. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.204)
(Brigham Young “Journal of Discourses” v.1 p.270)

In reality there is no such thing as a mystery but to the ignorant. We may also say, there is no such thing in reality, as a miracle, except to those who do not understand the “Alpha and the Omega” of every phenomenon that is made manifest. To a person who thoroughly understands the reasons of all things, and can trace from their effects to their true causes, mystery does not exist. Yet the physical and mental existence of man is a great mystery to him. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.204)
(Brigham Young “Journal of Discourses” v.2 p.91)

Our religion embraces chemistry; it embraces all the knowledge of the geologist, and then it goes a little further than their systems of argument, for the Lord Almighty, its author, is the greatest chemist there is. (Brigham Young “Journal of Discourses” v.15 p.127)

Mormonism embraces all truth that is revealed and that is unrevealed, whether religious, political, scientific, or philosophical. Brigham Young Journal of Discourses (Brigham Young “Journal of Discourses” v.1 p.270)
In one colorful but hyperbolic statement made in 1849 he went so far as to declare: "God Almighty will give the United States a pill that will puke them to death, and that is worse than lobelia. I am prophet enough to prophesy the downfall of the government that has driven us out……Wo to the United States! ….I see them greedy after death and destruction.” (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.224)

What kind of governor was Brigham in these first months of his territorial governorship? To the federal officers, he was a law unto himself in consequence of his power as church president and the almost complete allegiance of his followers. “In a word,” they said, “he ruled as he pleased, without rival or opposition, for no man dared question his authority.” (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.229)
Brigham showed an easy flexibility in handling political matters. A good example is his impulsive decision in the middle of a church meeting in 1853 to deal with the political business of reelecting John Bernhisel as delegate to Congress.

It came into my mind when brother Bernhisel was speaking, and the same thing strikes me now, that is, inasmuch as he has done first-rate, as our delegate in Washington, to move that we send him again next season, though it is the Sabbath Day. I understand these things, and say as other people say, “We are Mormons.” We do things that are necessary to be done; when the time comes for us to do them. If we wish to make political speeches, and it is necessary, for the best interest of the cause and kingdom of God, to make them on the Sabbath, we do it. Now, suffer not your prejudices to hurt you, do not suffer this to try you, nor be tempted in consequence of it, nor think we are wandering out of the way, for it is all embraced in our religion, from first to last.

Brother Kimball has seconded the motion, that Doctor Bernhisel be sent back to Washington, as our delegate. All who are in favor of it, raise your right hands. [More than two thousand hands were at once seen above the heads of the congregation.]

This has turned into a caucus meeting. It is all right. I would call for an opposite vote if I thought any person would vote. I will try it, however. [Not a single hand was raised in opposition.] (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.231)

Utah Territory’s accomplishments in education were less than impressive, despite a number of legislative acts designed to promote learning. In his last annual message Brigham tried to put a bold face on…. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.240)

In fact, it rankled him that the government was willing to make greater appropriations for carrying out war than for preventing it in the first place.

One fourth part of the money annually expended in fighting the Indians, maintenance, and transportation of troops (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.242)

“I am and will be Governor, and no power can hinder it, until the Lord Almighty says, ‘Brigham, you need not be Governor any longer;’ (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.245)

The path of sin with its thorns and pitfalls, its gins and snares can be revealed, and how to shun it….. The lord understands the evil and the good, why should we not likewise understand them? We should. Why? (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.289)

The Civil War proved to have far greater influence on Utah and the Mormons than Brigham ever anticipated. In 1862 Lincoln told T. B. H. Stenhouse, a Mormon journalist, that he intended to leave the Mormons alone:
Stenhouse, when I was a boy on the farm in Illinois there was a great deal of timber on the farm which we had to clear away. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.295)
Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” cited in Mormon America p.55
Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” cited in Mormon Experience p.170

It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and to ask my Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to sanctify that application to the healing of my body;… (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.311)

You may go to some people here, and ask what ails them, and they answer, “I don't know, but we feel a dreadful distress in the stomach and in the back; we feel all out of order, and we wish you to lay hands upon us.” “Have you used any remedies?” “No. We wish the Elders to lay hands upon us, and we have faith that we shall be healed.” That is very inconsistent according to my faith. If we are sick, and ask the Lord to heal us, and to do all for us that is necessary to be done, according to my understanding of the Gospel of salvation, I might as well ask the Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow, without my plowing the ground and casting in the seed. It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and to ask my Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to sanctify that application to the healing of my body; to another this may appear inconsistent.

If a person afflicted with a cancer should come to me and ask me to heal him, I would rather go the graveyard and try to raise a dead person, comparatively speaking. But supposing we were traveling in the mountains and all we had or could get, in the shape of nourishment, was a little venison, and one or two were taken sick, without anything in the world in the shape of healing medicine within our reach, what should we do? According to my faith, ask the Lord Almighty to send an angel to heal the sick. This is our privilege, when so situated that we cannot get anything to help ourselves. Then the Lord and his servants can do all. But it is my duty to do, when I have it in my power. Many people are unwilling to do one thing for themselves, in case of sickness, but ask God to do it all. Journal of Discourses 4:24

From what I learn, and observe myself, you do not conduct yourself nor keep your house as becomes a saint,….unless you prefer to incur severer treatment than a brotherly hint. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.313)

It is not by the whip or the rod that we can make obedient children (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.332)

Solomon said, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son,” but instead of using the rod, I will teach my children by example and by precept. I will teach them every opportunity I have to cherish faith, to exercise patience, to be full of long-suffering and kindness. It is not by the whip or the rod that we can make obedient children; but it is by faith and by prayer, and by setting a good example before them. This is my belief. I expect to obtain the same as Abraham obtained by faith and prayer, also the same as Isaac and Jacob obtained; but there are few who live for the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob after they are sealed upon them. No blessing that is sealed upon us will do us any good, unless we live for it. Whereas, if we are faithful, there is nothing which is calculated to please the eye, to gladden the heart, to cheer and comfort the body and spirit of man, everything in the heavens, with the fullness of the earth, its pleasures and enjoyments, with perfect health, without pain, with appetites made pure, all this, and more that has not yet entered into the heart of man to conceive, the Lord has in store for His children. This earth, when it shall be made pure and holy, and sanctified and glorified and brought back into the presence of the Father and the Son, from whence it came at the time of the fall, will become celestial, and be the glorified habitation of the faithful of this portion of the great family of our Heavenly Father. Journal of Discourses 11:117

In some families the children are afraid to see father—they will run and hide as from a tyrant. My children are not afraid of my footfall; except in the case of their having done something wrong they are not afraid to approach me. I could break the wills of my little children, and whip them to this, that, and the other, but this I do not do. Let the child have a mild training until it has judgment and sense to guide it. I differ with Solomon's recorded saying as to spoiling the child by sparing the rod. True it is written in the New Testament that “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.” It is necessary to try the faith of children as well as of grown people, but there are ways of doing so besides taking a club and knocking them down with it. “If you love me, keep my commandments.” “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” There is nothing consistent in abusing your wives and children. There is quite a portion of the Elders of Israel who do not know how to use one wife well. I love my wives, respect them, and honor them, but to make a queen of one and peasants of the rest I have no such disposition, neither do I expect to do it. Journal of Discourses 9:196

Brother Erastus Snow asked a question—“If my neighbor shall do wrong to me, am I thereby compelled to do wrong to my next neighbor?” I say, no. If a brother shall tread down my grain, that is ripening in the field, am I thereby compelled to run through and tread down yours? No. When a person steals my poles from the fence, am I compelled to steal yours? If my neighbor, or my brother in the Church, shall swear, and take the name of God in vain, does it necessarily follow that I must use the same language? If my brother shall do wrong in any way, it does not follow that I shall be justified in committing one single evil in all the acts of my life. Let each Latter-day Saint examine himself, and inquire, …. Journal of Discourses 1:311

“Gentile,” or “gentilism,” applies only to those who reject the gospel, and will not submit to and receive the plan of salvation. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.345)
Journal of Discourses 12:270

He “thought the classics had been used by the learned to keep the unlearned in subjection and ignorance. 42 Among other things, Brigham sent Dr. Park on a mission to the eastern states and Europe with the stated purpose of investigating various educational institutions and systems…. (free or cheap education?) (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.354-5)

Godbe and Harrison…were visited they asserted by “a band of spirits”…they received “a constant stream of communication by means of audible voices from a number of most distinguished historical personages.” (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.355-62)

When Brigham Young and his associates agreed to the passage of a legislative act giving woman the right to vote, making them the first females in the nation to vote in municipal and territorial elections, it was more an afterthought than the result of careful deliberation. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.363)

In the second place, the Saints should rely on home care and faith healing. “When you are sick,” he said, “call for the Elders, who will pray for you anointing with oil and the laying of hands; and nurse each other with herbs, and mild food, and if you do these things, in faith, and quit taking … poisonous medicines, which God never ordained for the use of men, you shall be blessed.” Childbirth, he thought, should be taken care of by midwives.

Often, however, women did not have the skills to perform the medical tasks brought to them. Martha Coray wrote Brigham that her daughter had died, apparently in childbirth, and she wrote pleading that “a class of students, women suited in mind and temper to the calling, be established in every settlement” to learn better medical practice. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.366-8)
(Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.367)

I want to say a word or two here with regard to our schools. There are many of our people who believe that the whole Territory ought to be taxed for our schools. When we have means, that come in the proper way, we can make a fund to help the poor to school their children, and I would say amen to it. But where are our poor? Where is the man or the woman in this community who has children and wishes to send them to school, that cannot do it? There is not one. When the poor complain and say, “My children ought to be schooled and clothed and fed,” I say, no sir, not so, you ought to yield your time and talents to the kind providences of our Father in the heavens according to the dictation of his servants, and he will tell each and every one of you what to do to earn your bread, meat, clothing, schooling, and how to be self-sustaining in the fullest sense of the word. To give to the idler is as wicked as anything else. Never give anything to the idler. “The idler in Zion shall not eat the bread of the laborer.” Well, they do eat it; but it is a commandment and a revelation as much as any other, that the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer in Zion. No, let every one spend every hour, day, week and month in some useful and profitable employment, and then all will have their meat and clothing, and means to pay teachers, and pay them well. Not that they should receive more pay than others. If men have learning, and they have the faculty of imparting it to others, and can teach children to read and write, and grammar and arithmetic, and all the ordinary branches of a common school education, what better are they than the man that plows, hoes, shoves the plane, handles the trowel and the axe, and hews the stone? Are they any better? I do not know that they are. (prior quotes available only in JD) What better is the man that can dress himself nicely and labor in a schoolhouse six hours a day, than the man who works ten or twelve hours a day hewing rock? Is he any better? No, he is not. Are you going to pay him for his good looks? That is what some of our Bishops want to do. If they can get a man, no matter what his moral qualities may be, whose shirt front is well starched and ironed, they will say—“Bless me, you are a delightful little man! What a smooth shirt you have got, and you have a ring on your finger—you are going to teach our school for us.” And along comes a stalwart man, axe in hand, going to chop wood, and, if he asks, “Do you want a school teacher?” Though he may know five times more than the dandy, he is told, “No, no, we have one engaged.” I want to cuff you Bishops back and forth until you get your brains turned right side up. Journal of Discourses 16:18-9

ONE event that marred Brigham's satisfaction was the trial in Beaver, that same year,….. long-trusted friend, John D. Lee for his part in the Mountain Meadows Massacre (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.385)

Brigham's thoughts even turned to the necessity for a usable church history. He wrote to his counselors in Salt Lake:

As soon as we can we must have someone of our brethren take hold of the matter of getting out a history of the Church in a condensed form…..

... about threats said to have been made against Brigham’s life by Lee’s son….

waited for Brigham Young’s carriage, shook his fist at the prophet, and shouted in a strident voice: “Oh, you cheat! Oh, Church fraud! You coward to forsake your tools! You are th man that they should have hung instead of Lee!” (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.392-3)

His last address to a public church meeting was on August 19 at Brigham City, where he ... LESS than a week before his death and on the very eve of his final illness, at the bishops' meeting of August 23 he discussed the duties…. responsibility "to look after every member in their wards, and not retain in fellowship those who utterly refuse to attend to their prayers, tithing……

Brigham warned his people to remain apart from the nonmembers in their midst….. Brigham said, “The disposition to mix with our enemies, to hail-fellow-well-met with the wicked, is not of the Lord.” There are tens of thousands of the blood of Israel who will not embrace the Gospel, neither will they seek to destroy the people, but speak a good word for them, and do good to them whenever they have opportunity. He wished to impress this upon the minds of the elders. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.395-6)
(Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.397)

Were you to ask me how it was that I embraced “Mormonism,” I should answer, for the simple reason that it embraces all truth in heaven and on earth, in the earth, under the earth, and in hell, if there be any truth there. There is no truth outside of it; there is no good outside of it; there is no virtue outside of it; there is nothing holy and honorable outside of it; for, wherever these principles are found among all the creations of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and his order and Priesthood, embrace them.

Not only does the religion of Jesus Christ make the people acquainted with the things of God, and develop within them moral excellence and purity, but it holds out every encouragement and inducement possible, for them to increase in knowledge and intelligence, in every branch of mechanism, or in the arts and sciences, for all wisdom, and all the arts and sciences in the world are from God, and are designed for the good of His people. (Leonard Arrington “Brigham Young: American Moses” 1985 p.405)
Journal of Discourses 11: 213
Journal of Discourses 13:147
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