# The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 33

* CHANGES IN THE CHURCH.
* Brigham Young assumes Joseph's Authority and Place
* The Emigration from Europe re-opened
* Migration of the Saints to the New Zion
* Brigham invites Presidents, Emperors, Kings, Princes, Nobles, etc., to come to the Help of "the Lord"
* The Pioneers en route.
The grand importance and success of the mission of the pioneers to the Rocky Mountains was the beginning of a new era in Mormonism.
Up to this time Israel had been "in bondage among the Gentiles." The laws that govern the citizens of the United States had restrained the Saints from living up to the higher laws of "the kingdom." But from this time they were to have a national existence, and in nearly every public document and in every sermon in the Tabernacle they were henceforth to be spoken of as "this people."
From the death of Joseph and the dis-fellowshipping of Rigdon, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had had the honour of leading the Saints, and Brigham was its senior member and President. In his opinion, however, the time had now arrived for a change.
At Winter Quarters there was a log-cabin, about fifty feet long, situated near the centre of the settlement. The roof and slanting sides and ends of the structure were covered with turf about two feet thick. It had several small windows in the roof and a door near one end. Into it none could look; from it nothing could be heard. This was "the Council House." It was here that "the Lord" spoke unto his servants.
It is a general idea with the unsophisticated that when "the Lord" reveals his will concerning the Church, the people listen, comprehend, and obey. It had been understood in ​this manner with Joseph Smith; but Brigham Young was as yet unused to the style of the heavenly world, and was extremely cautious, preparing to grope his way to the goal of his desires rather than risk the hasty announcement of "the Lord's" programme.
As he was leading back the pioneers from Salt Lake to the Missouri river, he divulged for the first time his idea of the desirability of reörganizing the Church "as it was in the days of Joseph," with a President and two counsellors, forming a quorum, called The First Presidency. The apostle Wilford Woodruff was taken into his confidence, and to him Brigham's purpose was first communicated as a suggestion. Brother Woodruff did not see it very clearly, for the Church and the world had been assured that the twelve apostles were to lead the Saints, and that the place of Joseph over the Church was not to be filled. Brother Woodruff, however, is a man of great faith, humble and tractable in the hands of "the Lord," and being more a follower than a leader, he soon saw the point very clearly. Brigham was successful; he had gained an apostle upon whom he could count.
The apostle Kimball, who stood next to Brigham in authority, and Willard Richards, the best scholar and secretary of the Twelve, were, if the proposed change were effected, to be elevated to the First Presidency as counsellors. These, with Woodruff and Brigham, constituted four of the Twelve already disposed of. Elder E. T. Benson had been ordained an apostle while crossing the plains going West; he could, therefore, offer no opposition to the change, had he even been capable of doing so. Amasa Lyman and Geo. A. Smith were men of excellent dispositions, and themselves free from all guile in the way of ambition—they were sure to sustain "the Lord." Lyman Wight had not followed Brigham westward, and so there was no occasion to speak of him. There remained, therefore, but four men in the Quorum of the Twelve—Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, and John Taylor—to be dealt with. Each of these had retained some personal identity, and believed in the first preachings and "whisperings of the spirit" after the death of Joseph, which promised that the Twelve Apostles should lead the Church.
​By the assassination of the two Smiths, Brigham Young, being the eldest of the apostles and President of the Quorum, became, de facto, the leader, though the Twelve were nominally the guiding "head." The elevation of Brigham and his two counsellors opened the way for Hyde, and made him President of the apostles, and in case of Brigham's death he would have become the head of the Church. "The finger of the Lord" was clear to brother Hyde, and he heard "the voice of the Lord" calling upon his servant Brigham to step forward and assume that position. Of course he did; but the Pratts and Taylor were not so favoured.
On the 5th of December, 1847, in that long mud-roofed Council House which was impervious to sound from without, and from within which not the loudest wrangle could be heard by the passer-by, sat Brigham and his apostles debating on the proposed change. Elder Taylor offered a manly opposition, while Orson Pratt sternly clung to the order of the Church, its revelations, preaching, and promises; and Parley was eloquent for the headship of the Church remaining with the Twelve. But wordy opposition availed nothing, and an appeal to the people would have divided the Church. They fully realized that no opposition to Brigham Young was possible within the Church, and they dared not step without to accomplish it. They had silently to submit, but Brigham has never forgiven that hostility.
The coming change was soon bruited among the people, and by them heard at first with astonishment. A general conference of all the Saints was convened at Winter Quarters, and there the election of Brigham took place. Soon after that council a four days' meeting was held in the Log Tabernacle near Kanesville, and there the proposed change was the subject of discourse. Faithful brethren were invited to speak on the subject, and one by one gave in their adhesion to the reorganization. When the moment for voting had arrived, every man was to be seen and to be understood. As soon as the apostles raised their hands affirmatively, the battle was over. Their example was followed, and, in their order, the High Council, the high priests, seventies, elders, priests, teachers, and deacons, and finally the vast congregation of women, raised ​their hands to heaven in token that they would sustain Brigham Young. Of this election he wrote to the president of the British Church: "I feel glory, hallelujah! Nothing more has been done to-day than what I knew would be done when Joseph died."
Thus Brigham became the "President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the whole world." Kimball and Richards became his counsellors, and Hyde was made president of the apostles.
This move of Brigham's has been charged against him as an act of usurpation; but that amounts to very little. The Mormon people have accepted the position of "unchallenged obedience," and it would have been incompatible with their own profession of faith to question any proposition emanating from the head of the Church. Brigham's action, then, with Brigham's former teaching, is all explicable by the doctrine of "expediency."
There is a tinge of Cromwell and Napoleon about Brigham that is really charming to the very humble Mormons. Should he hereafter at any time propose to organize the United States into a kingdom, and crown himself its monarch, the Saints would be as sure to vote for him unanimously. There is no alternative. To doubt his proposition is to doubt heaven, and to leave themselves without a head to lead them.
With the Church reorganized and a new Zion to be built up, the elders were again ready for missionary work.
The Mormon emigration from Europe and all other distant countries, that had closed with the exodus from Nauvoo, was again opened. A general epistle, issued on the 23rd of December, announced the route from Liverpool to be via New Orleans, St. Louis, and up the Missouri to Council Bluffs, and the emigrants were to bring with them all kinds of choice seeds of grain, vegetables, fruits, trees, vines—the best stock of beasts, birds, and fowl; the best tools and machinery, together with every interesting book, map, chart, and scientific work which they could obtain. They were to bring their treasures of precious metals and those of general utility, the curiosities of art and nature, "everything in their possession or within their ​reach, to build in strength and stability, to beautify, adorn, and embellish, to delight and cast a fragrance over the house of the Lord."
With a flourish of national feeling, Brigham, following the time-honoured custom of the British monarch, announced in that general epistle that the Mormons were "at peace with all nations, kingdoms, powers, governments, and authorities," save "the kingdom and power of darkness;" and invited, "presidents, emperors, kings, princes, nobles, governors, rulers, and judges," and the rest of mankind, "to come and help us to build a house to the name of the God of Jacob."
At this period Brigham appears to have been very intent upon building the Temple. When he was 419 miles west of Winter Quarters, July 13, 1848, he wrote to Orson Spencer, the President of the Church in Britain: "While you tarry in England I wish you would exert yourself to gather up as much tithing as you possibly can, and bring it with you, in order to prepare for glass, nails, paints, and such other articles as will be needed to bring from the States to assist in building up the Temple of the Lord in the valley of the Great Salt Lake." Twenty-four years have since passed away, and the Temple is but a few feet above the ground, while it is stated that millions have been collected by tithing and contribution for its erection!
The "day of deliverance has surely come," and the camps of Israel on the banks of Missouri were alive in the spring of 1848 making preparations for departure. All who could, wanted to go.
The same order of travel that "the Lord" had revealed through his servant Brigham for the guidance of the pioneers was again observed, and captains of tens, fifties, and hundreds were chosen. By the beginning of June the pilgrims were en route. The following inventory of the first five companies is interesting. Altogether there were 623 wagons, 1,891 souls, 131 horses, 44 mules, 2,012 oxen, 983 cows, 334 loose cattle, 654 sheep, 237 pigs, 904 chickens, 54 cats, 134 dogs, 3 goats, 10 geese, 11 doves, 1 squirrel, and 5 ducks.
Henceforth the Mormon emigration across the plains was "the Lord" gathering Israel home to the "chambers of the ​mountains" preparatory to the great day of wrath that was to come upon the Gentile world.
Following the pioneers to Great Salt Lake Valley, about four thousand of the Mormons arrived in September and October, taking with them a large amount of grain and agricultural implements, as well as the remnant of their property from Nauvoo, with which to commence a new home. The first winter was fortunately mild, and the emigrants suffered little, while the stock rambled about enjoying the spontaneous luxuries of a virgin soil.
The great body of the Saints from the Missouri river followed Brigham and his family in the summer of 1848, and the new settlement was greatly strengthened in numbers and with every description of labour necessary to its development.