Church History Gems: Brigham Young’s Testimony of Joseph Smith

Gems on Church History
Brigham Young’s Testimony of Joseph Smith
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“[Joseph Smith and Brigham Young] were very different. Joseph Smith was the great inspired, visionary, prophet. Brigham Young was a tough administrator and a powerful leader who would make workable the visions of the Prophet Joseph Smith; a man of practical action; a statesman; a man decisive, vigorous, and determined. The Holy Ghost had manifest to him that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet–in fact the spokesman for God in this dispensation of time–and that Latter-day Saint teachings were not only good or reasonable but uniquely true unto salvation. Brigham Young said:

” ‘Joseph Smith has laid the foundation of the kingdom of God in the last days; others will rear the superstructure. . . .

” ‘. . . I know that he 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” ‘ (Deseret News Weekly, 22 Oct. 1862, 129).”

Topic: Testimony, Joseph Smith, restoration

(L. Tom Perry, “By the Hands of His Prophets,” Ensign, Aug. 1998, 53)