A Collection of Scriptural and Doctrinal References to His Identity and Mission
The following is a collection of scriptural and doctrinal references to Adam, His Identity, and His Mission. These references are offered to you to read and ponder about, as the doctrine of Adam as our Father and God as far as this earth goes, was one of the most singular and important in the Latter-day Restoration.
Adam was appointed to the role of Father in Heaven for this earth by His Father and Priesthood Head, according to the true Patriarchal Order of Priesthood in the Heavens. That “the heads of the Gods appointed one God for us” was a teaching of our Dispensation Head, Joseph Smith. He also described Adam as having obtained the “First Presidency” of this earth, and holding “the keys of it from generation to generation,” which he obtained “in the Creation, before the world was formed.”
Brigham Young openly taught, consistently over time, that Adam was our Father and God, our Father in Heaven, the Father of our spirits, and the physical Father of Jesus Christ–this fact is undeniable. He claimed on numerous occasions that he obtained this sacred knowledge from Joseph Smith himself. LDS leaders, including Bruce R. McConkie have admitted at times that Brigham Young truly did teach these doctrines about Adam. The doctrine of Adam as our Father in Heaven was general in the LDS church in the previous century, even though the world held it in derision. It wasn’t only Brigham Young that espoused this doctrine among the leaders. These doctrines regarding Adam were also formerly a sacred part of the LDS temple endowment, until they were removed around the turn of the century. The formal repudiation of this doctrine is only one part of the piecemeal and general slide of LDS apostasy against the Lord in the last hundred years or so.
We ask you to humbly study these teachings and references, and ask yourself if the present-day LDS church is in harmony truly with its former teachings. To stress the importance of the knowledge of our Father in Heaven, we offer the following New Testament quote:
“And This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.”
John 17:3
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D&C 27:11
And also with Michael, or Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the ancient of days;
Moses 6:57
Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.
From Bible Dictionary:
The name Adam means “Man“
Michael means “Who is like God“
Joseph Smith statement on the Godhead for this earth :
Everlasting covenant was made between three personages before the organization of this earth, and relates to their dispensation of things to men on the earth; these personages, according to Abraham’s record, are called God the first, the Creator; God the second, the Redeemer; and God the third, the witness or Testator. (TPJS p 190)
From Abraham Chapter 3:
22. Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;
23. And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.24. And there stood one among them that was like unto God[literal meaning of “Michael”, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;[Creator mission, recall statements such as those made by Brigham Young where he said that Adam was “the chief manager in that [creation] operation.” ( JD 3:316-318)]
25. And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
26. And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.
27. And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man [Christ very frequently referred to himself as the “Son of Man?” but the biblical translators never picked upon the significnce of the name or title “Man,” so it was never capitalized in the N.T]: Here am I, send me [Messiah, Christ, or Redeemer mission, see passage above]. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.
28. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him. [Witness-Testator mission is not specificaly mentioned in this passage.]
Prophet Joseph Smith From TPJS: p 371-372 (King Follett Discourse)
I will show from the Hebrew Bible that I am correct, and the first word shows a plurality of Gods; and I want the apostates and learned men to come here and prove to the contrary, if they can. An unlearned boy must give you a little Hebrew.
Berosheit baurau Eloheim ait aushamayeen vehau auraits,
rendered by King James’ translators, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” I want to analyze the word Berosheit. Rosh, the head; Sheit, a grammatical termination; the Baith was not originally put there when the inspired man wrote it, but it has been since added by an old Jew. Baurau signifies to bring forth; Eloheim is from the word Eloi, God, in the singular number; and by adding the word heim, it renders it Gods. It read first, “In the beginning the head of the Gods brought forth the Gods,” or, as others have translated it, “The head of the Gods called the Gods together.”I want to show a little learning as well as other fools.
The head God organized the heavens and the earth. I defy all the world to refute me. In the beginning the heads of the Gods organized the heavens and the earth. Now the learned priests and the people rage, and the heathen imagine a vain thing. If we pursue the Hebrew text further, it reads, “The head one of the Gods said, Let us make a man in our own image,” I once asked a learned Jew, “If the Hebrew language compels us to render all words ending in heim in the plural, why not render the first Eloheim plural?” He replied, “That is the rule with few exceptions; but in this case it would ruin the Bible.” He acknowledged I was right. I came here to investigate these things precisely as I believe them. Hear and judge for yourselves; and if you go away satisfied, well and good.
In the very beginning the Bible shows there is a plurality of Gods beyond the power of refutation. It is a great subject I am dwelling on. The word Eloheim ought to be in the plural all the way through — Gods. The heads of the Gods appointed one God for us; and when you take [that] view of the subject, its sets one free to see all the beauty, holiness and perfection of the Gods. All I want is to get the simple, naked truth, and the whole truth.
From an address delivered by President Joseph Smith, in Commerce, Illinois, Tuesday, June 2, 1839. (DHC 3:385-387)
The Prophet Joseph Smith on Priesthood
The Priesthood was first given to Adam; he obtained the First Presidency, and held the keys of it from generation to generation. He obtained it in the Creation, before the world was formed, as in Gen. 1:26,27,28. He had dominion given him over every living creature. He is Michael the Archangel, spoken of in the Scriptures. Then to Noah, who is Gabriel; he stands next in authority to Adam in the Priesthood; he was called of God to this office, and was the father of all living in his day, and to him was given the dominion. These men held keys first on earth, and then in heaven.
The Priesthood is an everlasting principle, and existed with God from eternity, and will to eternity, without beginning of days or end of years. The keys have to be brought from heaven whenever the Gospel is sent. When they are revealed from heaven, it is by Adam’s authority.
Daniel in his seventh chapter speaks of the Ancient of Days; he means the oldest man, our Father Adam Michael; he will call his children together and hold a council with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man. He (Adam) is the father of the human family, and presides over the spirits of all men, and all that have had the keys must stand before him in this grand council. This may take place before some of us leave this stage of action. The Son of Man stands before him, and there is given him glory and dominion. Adam delivers up his stewardship to Christ, that which was delivered to him as holding the keys of the universe, but retains his standing as head of the human family.
The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be eternal; and earth, water, etc., had their existence in an elementary state, from eternity. Our Savior speaks of children and says, Their angels always stand before my Father. The Father called all spirits before Him at the creation of man, and organized them. He (Adam) is the head, and was told to multiply. The keys were first given to him, and by him to others. He will have to give an account of his stewardship, and they to him.
The Priesthood is everlasting. The Savior, Moses, and Elias, gave the keys to Peter, James, and John, on the mount when they were transfigured before him. The Priesthood is everlasting–without beginning of days or end of years; without father, mother, etc. If there is no change of ordinances, there is no change of Priesthood. Wherever the ordinances of the Gospel are administered, there is the Priesthood.
How have we come at the Priesthood in the last days? It came down, down, in regular succession. Peter, James, and John had it given to them and they gave it to others. Christ is the Great High Priest; Adam next.~388.1
This is in keeping with the word of the Lord in a revelation given March, 1832 where the Lord, in speaking to the Saints, said that it was His desire-
“That you may come up unto the crown prepared for you, and be made rulers over many kingdoms, saith the Lord God, the Holy one of Zion, who hath established the foundations of Adam-ondi-Ahman; who hath appointed Michael [Adam] your prince, and established his feet, and set him upon high, and given unto him the keys of salvation under the counsel and direction of the Holy one, who is without beginning of days or end of life.” (D&C 78:15-16)
Paul speaks of the Church coming to an innumerable company of angels “to God the Judge of all” the spirits of just men made perfect; to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant.” Heb. 12:23.
I saw Adam in the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman. He called together his children and blessed them with a patriarchal blessing. The Lord appeared in their midst, and he (Adam) blessed them all, and foretold what should befall them to the latest generation.
This is why Adam blessed his posterity; he wanted to bring them into the presence of God. They looked for a city, etc., [“whose builder and maker is God.” Heb. 11:10]. Moses sought to bring the children of Israel into the presence of God, through the power of the Priesthood, but he could not. In the first ages of the world they tried to establish the same thing; and there were Eliases raised up who tried to restore these very glories, but did not obtain them; but they prophesied of a day when this glory would be revealed. Paul spoke of the dispensation of the fullness of times, when God would gather together all things in one, etc.; and those men to whom these keys have been given, will have to be there; and they without us cannot be made perfect.
These men are in heaven, but their children are on the earth. Their bowels yearn over us. God sends down men for this reason. “And the Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that give offense and them that do iniquity.” (Matt. 13:41). All these authoritative characters will come down and join hand in hand in bringing about this work.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed. The mustard seed is small, but bring forth a large tree, and the fowls lodge in the branches. The fowls are the angels. Thus angels come down, combine together to gather their children, and gather them. We cannot be made perfect without them, nor they without us; when these things are done, the Son of Man will descend, the Ancient of Days sit; we may come to an innumerable company of angels, have communion with and receive instructions from them. Paul told about Moses’ proceedings; spoke of the children of Israel being baptized (1 Cor. 10:1-4). He knew this, and that all the ordinances and blessings were in the Church. Paul had these things, and we may have the fowls of heaven lodge in the branches, etc.
The “Horn” made war with the Saints and overcame them, until the Ancient of Days came; judgment was given to the Saints of the Most High from the Ancient of Days; the time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom. This not only makes us ministers here, but in eternity.
Daniel Chapter 7:
9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
10. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
11. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
12. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
D&C Section 88
110. And so on, until the seventh angel shall sound his trump; and he shall stand forth upon the land and upon the sea, and swear in the name of him who sitteth upon the throne, that there shall be time no longer; and Satan shall be bound, that old serpent, who is called the devil, and shall not be loosed for the space of a thousand years.
111. And then he shall be loosed for a little season, that he may gather together his armies.
112. And Michael, the seventh angel, even the archangel, shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of heaven.
113. And the devil shall gather together his armies; even the hosts of hell, and shall come up to battle against Michael and his armies.
114. And then cometh the battle of the great God; and the devil and his armies shall be cast away into their own place, that they shall not have power over the saints any more at all.
115. For Michael shall fight their battles, and shall overcome him who seeketh the throne of him who sitteth upon the throne, even the Lamb.
116. This is the glory of God, and the sanctified; and they shall not any more see death.
Brigham Young: April 20, 1856 ( JD 3:316-318)
Though we have it in history that our father Adam was made of the dust of this earth, and that he knew nothing about his God previous to being made here, yet it is not so; and when we learn the truth we shall see and understand that he helped to make this world, and was the chief manager in that operation.
He was the person who brought the animals and the seeds from other planets to this world, and brought a wife with him and stayed here. You may read and believe what you please as to what is found written in the Bible. Adam was made from the dust of an earth, but not from the dust of this earth. He was made as you and I are made, and no person was ever made upon any other principle.
Do you not suppose that he was acquainted with his associates, who came and helped to make this earth? Yes, they were just as familiar with each other as we are with our children and parents.
Suppose a number of our sons were going to Carson Valley to build houses, open farms, and erect mills and workshops, and that we should say to them that we wish them to stay there five years, and that then we will come and visit them, when I go there will they be afraid of me? No, they would receive me as their father, just as Adam received his Father.
The very man who walked and talked with and knew the God of heaven, and knew and understood all about making this earth had associates who were associated with Enoch, and yet twenty-five years of the travel and experience of Enoch with his people had not advanced them so far, in my opinion, as this people have advanced in the same time, taking into account the difference of traditions and other advantages.
Parley P. Pratt, Key to Theology, p 50:
Earth, its mineral, vegetable and animal wealth, its Paradise prepared, down comes from yonder world on high a son of God, with his beloved spouse.
Brigham Young, April 9, 1852, (JD 1:46-48)
My next sermon will be to both Saint and sinner. One thing has remained a mystery in this kingdom up to this day. It is in regard to the character of the well-beloved Son of God, upon which subject the Elders of Israel have conflicting views. Our God and Father in heaven, is a being of tabernacle, or, in other words, He has a body, with parts the same as you and I have; and is capable of showing forth His works to organized beings, as, for instance, in the world in which we live, it is the result of the knowledge and infinite wisdom that dwell in His organized body. His son Jesus Christ has become a personage of tabernacle, and has a body like his father. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Lord, and issues forth from Himself, and may properly be called God’s minister to execute His will in immensity; being called to govern by His influence and power; but He is not a person of tabernacle as we are, and as our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ are. The question has been, and is often, asked, who it was that begat the Son of the Virgin Mary. The infidel world have concluded that if what the Apostles wrote about his father and mother be true, and the present marriage discipline acknowledged by Christendom be correct, then Christians must believe that God is the father of an illegitimate son, in the person of Jesus Christ! The infidel fraternity teach that to their disciples. I will tell you how it is. Our Father in Heaven begat all the spirits that ever were, or ever will be, upon this earth; and they were born spirits in the eternal world. Then the Lord by His power and wisdom organized the mortal tabernacle of man. We were made first spiritual, and afterwards temporal.
Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is MICHAEL, the Archangel, the ANCIENT OF DAYS! about whom holy men have written and spoken. HE is our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing, must hear it, and will know it sooner or later. They came here, organized the raw material, and arranged in their order the herbs of the field, the trees, the apple, the peach, the plum, the pear, and every other fruit that is desirable and good for man; the seed was brought from another sphere, and planted in this earth. The thistle, and thorn, the brier, and the obnoxious weed did not appear until after the earth was cursed. When Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, their bodies became mortal from its effects, and therefore their offspring were mortal. When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family; and when he took a tabernacle, it was begotten by his Father in heaven, after the same manner as the tabernacles of Cain, Abel, and the rest of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve; from the fruits of the earth, the first earthly tabernacles were originated by the Father, and so on in succession. I could tell you much more about this; but were I to tell you the whole truth, blasphemy would be nothing to it, in the estimation of the superstitious and over-righteous of mankind. However, I have told you the truth as far as I have gone. I have heard men preach upon the divinity of Christ, and exhaust all the wisdom they possessed. All Scripturalists, and approved theologians who were considered exemplary for piety and education, have under-taken to expound on this subject, in every age of the Christian era; and after they have done all, they are obliged to conclude by exclaiming “great is the mystery of godliness,” and tell nothing.
It is true that the earth was organized by three distinct characters, namely, Eloheim, Yahovah, and Michael, these three forming a quorum, as in all heavenly bodies, and in organizing element, perfectly represented in the Deity, as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Again, they will try to tell how the divinity of Jesus is joined to his humanity, and exhaust all their mental faculties, and wind up with this profound language, as describing the soul of man, “it is an immaterial substance!” What a learned idea! Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven. Now, let all who may hear these doctrines, pause before they make light of them, or treat them with indifference, for they will prove their salvation or damnation.
Excerpts from the Journal of Wilford Woodruff:
Feb 19. 1854:
President Young followed & made many good remarks . . . He said that our God was Father Adam. He was the Father of the Savior Jesus Christ–Our God was no more or less than Adam . . . Michael the Archangel
December 16th, 1867:
At meeting of school of the prophets, President Young said Adam was Michael the Archangel and he was the father of Jesus Christ and was our God, and Joseph taught this principle.
January 24th, 1868:
I wish to refer to the first doctrine preached that Adam was our Father and God. In the revelation called the Olive Leaf it says that the Devil gathered together the hosts of Hell, and Michael the Archangel gathered together the hosts of Heaven and he overcame the Devil and his angels, and this is the battle of the great God. Who is this Michael the Archangel? It is Adam who was Michael in the creation of the world….
December 11th, 1869:
The following is a synopsis of President Young’s remarks: Some have thought it strange what I have said concerning Adam, but the period will come when this people of [the] faithful will be willing to adopt Joseph Smith as their Prophet, Seer, Revelator and God, but not the father of their spirits for that was our Father Adam.
Brigham Young, Deseret News, June 18th, 1873
How much unbelief exists in the mind of the Latter-Day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which I revealed to them, and which God revealed to me – namely that Adam is our father and God – …But I could not find any man on earth who could tell me this, although it is one of the simplest things in the world, until I met and talked with Joseph Smith.
Brigham Young, 9 October 1859 (JD 7:285)
When you tell me that father Adam was made as we make adobies from the earth, you tell me what I deem an idle tale. When you tell me that the beasts of the field were produced in that manner, you are speaking idle worlds devoid of meaning. There is no such thing in all the eternities where the Gods dwell. Mankind are here because they are the offspring of parents who were first brought here from another planet, and power was given them to propagate their species, and they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth.
Brigham Young 8 January 1865 (JD 11:40)
If Jesus should veil His glory and appear before you as a man, and witness of himself as being the image of his Father, would you believe that he was really Jesus Christ and that he told you the truth? And if you believed His words, would you not wonder exceedingly to hear that our Father and God is an organized being after the fashion of man’s organization in every respect? Such, however, is the case. One of the prophets describes the Father of us all, saying, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool; his throne was like the fiery flame,” etc. The prophet further says, “thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him,” etc. Again, “and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.” Now, who is this Ancient of days? You may answer this question at your pleasure, I have already told the people. But the Savior would answer the question as to the appearance of the Father of us all, by saying, “Look at me, for I am the very express image of My Father.” Then if the Father is precisely like his Son Jesus Christ, where is the man here in the flesh that is precisely like the Savior? We have not seen Him in person, but there are men on the earth who have seen Him in vision. As to whether the Savior has got a body or not is no question with those who possess the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, and are endowed with the Holy Priesthood; they know that he was a man in the flesh, and is now a man in the heavens; He was a man subject to sin, to temptation, and to weaknesses; but He is now a man that is above all this–a man in perfection.
Brigham Young, 9 October 1859 (JD 7:290)
Adam and Eve are the parents of all pertaining to the flesh, and I would not say that they are not also the parents of our spirits.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, (5:330)
Some have grumbled because I believe our God to be so near to us as Father Adam. There are many who know that doctrine to be true. Where was Michael in the creation of this earth? Did he have a mission to the earth? He did. Where was he? In the Grand Council, and performed the mission assigned him there. Now, if it should happen that we have to pay tribute to Father Adam, what a humiliating circumstance it would be! Just wait till you pass Joseph Smith; and after Joseph lets you pass him, you will find Peter; and after you pass the Apostles and many of the Prophets, you will find Abraham, and he will say, “I have the keys, and except you do thus and so, you cannot pass;” and after a while you come to Jesus; and when you at length meet Father Adam, how strange it will appear to your present notions. If we can pass Joseph and have him say, “Here; you have been faithful, good boys; I hold the keys of this dispensation; I will let you pass;” then we shall be very glad to see the white locks of Father Adam. But those are ideas which do not concern us at present, although it is written in the Bible. “This is eternal life, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, (9:286)
Our former religious traditions has taught us that our Father in heaven has no tabernacle, that his centre is everywhere and his circumference nowhere. Yet we read that “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.” “Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.” “And the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool.” “Hast thou an arm like God? Or can’st thou thunder with a voice like him?” “And I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face thou shalt not see.” “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry.” The idea that the Lord our God is not a personage of tabernacle is entirely a mistaken notion. He was once a man.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, (10:355)
“Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all High Priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing. And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the Prince, the Arch-angel. And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him; I have set thee to be at the head, a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever.” So, in like manner, every faithful son of God, becomes, as it were, Adam to the race that springs from his loins, when they are embraced in the covenants and blessings of the Holy Priesthood; and in the lapse of eternity, and in the progress of eternal lives, every true son of God becomes a king of kings, and a lord of lords, and it may also be said of him, as it was written of Jesus Christ, “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”
Brigham Young, (JD 11:325)
Will the time ever come that we can commence and organise this people as a family? It will. Do we know how? Yes; what was lacking in these revelations from Joseph to enable us to do so was revealed to me. Do you think we will ever be one? When we get home to our Father and God will we not wish to be in the family? Will it not be our highest ambition and desire to be reckoned as the sons of the living God, as the daughters of the Almighty, with a right to the household, and the faith that belongs to the household, heirs of the Father, His goods, His wealth, His power, His excellency, His knowledge and wisdom? Ought it not to be our highest ambition to attain to this? How many families do you think there will be then? It is true that we read in the Bible with regard to the twelve tribes of Israel, that they will be gathered together tribe by tribe, and that when they are so gathered they will hear the sentence of the Ancient of Days.
. . . So it was with Israel, in the days of their obedience they were commanded to take partners in their own families; but Israel was finaly divided up into twelve parts, and they will be brought up so. This, however, is something that I understand, and which the people may understand, perhaps, sometime. They will come up tribe by tribe, and the Ancient of Days, He who led Abraham, and talked to Noah, Enoch, Isaac, and Jacob, that very Being will come and judge the twelve tribes of Israel.
Brigham Young points out that man’s celestial lineage traces back through Father Adam to our God Ancestors (8 February 1857, JD 4:215)
But when we arrive at that point, a vail is dropt, and our knowledge is cut off. Were it not so, you could trace back your history to the Father of our spirits in the eternal world. He is a being of the same species as ourselves; He lives as we do, except the difference that we are earthly, and He is heavenly. He has been earthly, and is of precisely the same species of being that we are. Whether Adam is the personage that we should consider our heavenly Father, or not, is considerable of a mystery to a good many. I do not care for one moment how that is; it is no matter whether we are to consider Him our God, or whether His Father, or His Grandfather, for in either case we are of one species—of one family–and Jesus Christ is also of our species.
Brigham Young 8 March 1857 (JD 4:265-270)
The sun rises and scorches the tender plants that seem to be growing in them, and we have to cry to the people, “reform, REFORM, REFORM,” when in reality it is a disgrace that such in-struction should ever be necessary. It is a great disgrace; it is mortifying to angels, and I will insure that it is mortifying to our Father Adam. His heart is pained with such things; and the Prophets are pained with them, and so are all who understand and have proved themselves wor-thy of eternal life, both those who now live on the earth and those who have gone behind the vail.
. . . If you look at things spiritually, and then naturally, and see how they appear together, you will understand that when you have the privilege of commencing the work that Adam commenced on this earth, you will have all your children come and report to you of their sayings and acts; and you will hold every son and daughter of yours responsible when you get the privilege of being an Adam on earth.
Suppose that one of us had been Adam, and had peopled and filled the world with our children, they, although they might be great grandchildren, &c., still, say I, had I been Adam, they would be my flesh, blood, and bones, and have the same kind of a spirit put into them that is in me. And pertaining to the flesh they would all be my children, and I would call them to account, and by and bye I would call every one of them home. They would have to render up to father an account, that he may know what their works have been on earth, for man is judged according to his works on the earth.
Comparing spiritual with temporal things, it must be that God knows something about temporal things, and has had a body and been on an earth, were it not so He would not know how to judge men righteously, according to the temptations and sin they have had to contend with. If I can pass brother Joseph, I shall stand a good chance for passing Peter, Jesus, the Prophets, Moses, Abraham, and all back to Father Adam, and be pretty sure of receiving his approbation. If I can pass all this ordeal, shall I not be pretty safe? I think I shall.
When we get before father Adam and the innumerable company that will come before him, when we draw near to the Ancient of Days with the rest of his children, and receive his approbation, shall we not be safe?
Brigham Young (Manuscript Addresses of Brigham Young, Oct. 8, 1854)
I know by my experience by the visions of eternity that God reveals things to individuals that does not belong to the Church at large at present, or that does not yet belong to the Mass. That I know. Every world has had an Adam, and an Eve; named so, simply because the first man is always called Adam, and the first woman Eve; and the Oldest Son has always had the privilege of being Ordained, Appointed and Called to be the Heir of the Family, if he does not rebel against the Father, and he is the Savior of the Family. Every world that has been created, has been created upon the same principle. They may vary in their varieties, yet the eternity is one; it is one eternal round. These are things that scarcely belong to the best of this congregation. There are items of doctrine, and principles, in the bosom of eternity that the best of the Latter-day Saints are unworthy to receive. If the visions of their minds were opened to look into the vast creations, and gaze upon the Power, and Glory, and Goodness, and Exaltation of the Gods they would exclaim; “Wo is me[,] I am undone, I am of unclean lips.” The spirits of all the human family were begotten by one Father. Now be watchful, for if I have time, and feel able, I shall communicate something in connection with this you are not expecting. Yes, every son and daughter of Adam according to the flesh can claim one parentage; the Heathen, and the Christian, the Jew and the Gentile, the high and the low, the king and the beggar, the black and the white, all who have sprung from Adam and Eve have one father. The God and Father [of] our Lord Jesus Christ is the Father of our spirits. I began at the end, and shall probably finish at the beginning of my discourse; but it is no matter which end a man begins at, for the first shall be last, and the last first; which proves it is one eternal round; it is one eternity. Eloheim looks around upon the eternity of matter, and said to His associates, and those that he was pleased to call upon at that time for His counselors, with regard to the Elements[,] Worlds, Planets, Kingdoms and thrones; said He, “Yahovah Michael, see that Eternal Matter on all sides, this way and that way; we have already created Worlds upon Worlds, shall we create another world? Yes, go and organize the elements yonder in space;” not empty space for there is no such thing, once in a while, earth quakes, and the extensive destruction of combustible matter by fire will come nigh making empty space for perhaps the millionth part of a second. “Yahovah Michael go and create a world, make, organize it, form it; and then put upon it everything in all the variety that you have see[n], that you have been in the habit of being associated with in other worlds, of beasts, birds, fowls, fish, and every insect, and creeping thing, and finally, [when] the whole eternity of element is full of life, bring it together and make of it living creatures.”
Yahovah Michael goes and does as he is told. What I am now going to tell you, will no doubt astonish the whole of you. When Yahovah Michael had organized the world, and brought from another kingdom the beasts[,] fish, fowl, and insects, and every tree, and plant with which we are acquainted, and thousands that we never saw, when He had filled the Earth with animal and vegetable life, Michael or Adam goes down to the new made world, and there he stays.
Do you suppose he went there alone. Moses made the Bible to say his wife was taken out of his side, was made of one of his ribs. I do not know anything to the contrary of my ribs being equal on both sides. The Lord knows if I had lost a rib for rib for each wife I have, I should have had none left long ago. Some try to say how many wives the Governor of Utah has, but if they can tell, they can tell more than I can, for I do not know how many I have; I have not counted them up for many years. I did not know how many I had before I left the United States I had so many. I heard that I had ninety. Why bless your souls, ninety is not a beginning. You might ask me if I have ever see them all; I answer no; I see a few of them I pick up myself here. I have lots, and scores I never see nor shall not until the morning of the resurrection.
Now about the rib. As for the lord taking a rib out of Adams side to make a woman of, He took one out of my side just as much.
“But, Brother Brigham, would you make it appear that Moses did not tell the truth?”
No not a particle more than I would that your mother did not tell the truth, when she told you that little Billy came from a hollow toad stool. I would not accuse your mother of lying, any more than I would Moses; as the people in the days of Moses wanted to know things that was not for them, the same as your children do, when they want to know where their little brother came from, and he answered them according to their folly, the same as you did your children.
Now some will be ready to say, “We always heard these Mormons did not believe the Bible.” I believe all the truth that is there and that is enough for me, and for you to believe.
“Then the Lord did not make Adam out of the dust of the earth.”
Yes he did, but I have not got to that part of my discourse yet. Adam was made of the dust of the earth.
“Was he made of the dust of this earth.”
No[,] but of the dust of the earth whereon he was born in the flesh; that is the way he was made; he was made of dust.
“Did the Lord put into him his spirit.”
Yes, as the Lord put into you your spirit, he was begotten of a father, and brought forth as you and I were; and so are all intelligent beings brought forth from eternity to eternity. Man was not mad[e] the same as you make an adobe to put in a wall. Moses said Adam was made of the dust of the ground of this Earth, but he was made of the dust of the earth where he lived. Where he honored his calling, believed in his Savior, or Elder Brother, and by his faithfulness, was redeemed , and got a Glorious Resurrection. I tell you more, Adam is the Father of our spirits. He lived upon an earth; he did abide his creation, and did honor to his calling and Priesthood; and obeyed his Master or Lord, and probably many of his wives did the same, and they lived and died upon an earth, and then were resurrected again to Immortality and Eternal Life.
“Did he resurrect himself,” you inquire. I want to throw out a few hints upon the resurrection as it seems to come within the circuit of my ideas whether it ought to come with the circuit of my remarks or not. I believe we have already acknowledged the truth established that no person can officiate in any office he has not been subject to himself and been legally appointed to fill. That no person in this Kingdom can officiate in any ordinance he himself has not obeyed; consequently no being who has not been resurrected possesses the Keys of the Power of Resurrection. That you have been told often. Adam therefore was resurrected by some one who had been resurrected. Now, many inquiries will be made about the Savior, such as, “Who is he? Is he the Father of Adam? Is he the god of Adam?[“] When Christ has finished his labor and presented it to his father, then he, Adam will receive a fullness. That is all easily understood by me. He cannot receive a fullness of the kingdoms He has organized until they are completed. If he sends His servants off to the right and to the left to perform a certain labor[,] His kingdom is not complete, until His ministers have accomplished everything to make His kingdom complete and returned home again.
Many inquire, who is this Savior? I will tell you what I think about it, and as the [Southerners] say I reckon, and as the Yankees say I guess; but I will tell you what I reckon. I reckon that Father Adam was a resurrected being, with his wives and posterity, and in the Celestial Kingdom they were crowned with Glory[,] Immortality and Eternal Lives, with Thrones, Principalities and Powers: and it was said to him[, “]It is your right to organize the elements; and to your Creations and Posterity there shall be no end, but you shall add Kingdom to Kingdom, and Throne to Throne; and still behold the vast eternity of unorganized matter.[“]
Adam then was a resurrected being; and I reckon,
Our spirits and the spirits of all the human family were begotten by Adam, and born of Eve.
“How are we going to know this?”
I reckon it.
And I reckon that Adam came into the Garden of Eden, and did actually eat of the fruit that he himself planted; and I reckon there was a previous understanding, and the whole plan was previously calculated, before the Garden of Eden was made, that he would reduce his posterity to sin, misery, darkness, wickedness, wretchedness, and to the power of the Devil, that they might be prepared for an Exaltation, for without this they could not receive one. The inquiry will arise, among those who are strenuous, and tenacious for the account given by Moses, as to Adam.
“Did not Adam die.”
Yes he died.
“Does not the Bible say he died.”
I do not know nor care, but I think it would be hard I think to find where he died; or where Moses died though I have no doubt Moses died, and Adam also; how? Just as you and I have to die, and be laid away in the bowels of Mother earth; that, however, Moses did not see fit to tell us.
Adam planted the Garden of Eden, and he with his wife Eve partook of the fruit of this Earth, until their systems were charged with the nature of Earth, and then they could beget bodies, for their spiritual children. If the spirit does not enter into the embryo man that is forming in the womb of the woman, the result will be false conception, a living, intelligent being cannot be produced. Adam and Eve begat the first mortal bodies on this Earth, and from that commencement every spirit that was begotten in eternity for this Earth will enter bodies thus prepared for them here, until the winding up scene, and that will not be until the last of these spirits enters an earthly tabernacle.
Then I reckon that the children of Adam and Eve married each other; this is speaking to the point. I believe in sisters marrying brothers, and brothers having their sisters for wives. Why? Because we cannot do otherwise. There are none others for me to marry but my sisters.
“But yo[u would] not pretend to say you would marry your father and mothers daughter.”
If I did not I would marry another of my sisters that lives over in another garden; the material of which they are organized is just the same; there is no difference between them, and those who live in this garden. Our spirits are all brothers and sisters, and so are our bodies; and the opposite idea to this has resulted from the ignorant, and foolish traditions of the nations of the earth. They have corrupted themselves with each other, and I want them to understand that they have corrupted their own flesh, blood, and bones; for they are of the same flesh, blood, and bones, as all the family of the Earth.
I am approaching the subject of our marriage relations Brother Hyde lectured upon, but I shall not have time, or strength to say much about this. But, I reckon that Father Adam, and Mother Eve had the children of the human family prepared to come here and take bodies; and when they come to take bodies, they enter into the bodies prepared for them, and that body gets an exaltation with the spirit, when they are prepared to be crowned in Father’s Kingdom.
“What, into Adam’s Kingdom?”
Yes.
As to my talking what I want to say at this time I shall not do it. I am exhausting myself; I have to speak loud, and it is hard labor.
I tell you, when you see your Father in the Heavens, you will see Adam; when you see your Mother that bear your spirit, you will see Mother Eve. And when you see yourselves there you have gained your Exaltation; you have honored your calling here on the earth; your body has returned to its mother Earth; and somebody had broken the chains of death that bound you, and given you a resurrection. What will become of the world then? It will be baptized with fire. I[t] has been baptized with water, and it will then be cleansed by fire, and become like a sea of glass, and be made Celestial; and Jesus Christ our Elder Brother will take the whole Earth, with all the Saints and go with them to the Father even to Adam; and you will continue to receive more and more Intelligence, Glory, Exaltation, and Power.
I want to tell you a thing with regard to parents, wives, brothers and sisters etc. The time will come when it will be told where this man, and that woman shall be placed; The real blood of Joseph will be selected our from the tribes of Israel, and every man, and woman will be put in their places, and stand in their order where the Lord designs them to be. When you get back into the presence of God, and the Lord should say [“]Who have you brought with you?[“] Your reply would be, [“]My wife and children;” but in reality you have only with you your brothers and sisters. The Father would say, “These are my children.[“]
When you meet your Father in Heaven you will know Him, and realize that you have lived with Him, and rested in His bosom for ages gone passed, and He will hail you as His sons and daughters, and embrace you, and you will embrace Him, and [“]Hallelujah[,] thank God I have come to Father again, I have got back home[“] will resound through the Heavens. There are ten thousand things connected with these ideas. You see the human family of every shade of color between black and white. I could stand here and tell you what I reckon but it would take an age for me to tell you all there is about it.
We have all come from one father even Adam, both the black and the white, the grizzled and the gray; the noble, and the ignoble; and the time will come, when they will all come back again into his presence. When they have behaved themselves, and proved faithful to their calling, and to their God the Curse will be removed, from every class, and nation of men that desires to work the work of God. This [has] been told you[,] that Saviour would come upon Mount Zion, and judge the Mount of Esau. Let me read it for you, [“]There shall saviours come upon Mount Zion, and Save the Mount of Esau.[“] What does gentile signify? Disobedience. What does Israel signify? Obedience. What is the name of the first man[?] Adam, which signifies first man, and Eve signifies first woman. And when Michael the Archangel shall sound his trump and the Ancient of Days shall come, all things that we have once been familiar with will come back again to our memory. I commenced with Father Adam in his resurrected state, noticed our spiritual state, then our temporal, or mortal state, and traveled until I got back to Father Adam again.
Heber C. Kimball, 29 June 1856 (JD 4:1)
I have learned by experience that there is but one God that pertains to this people, and He is the Lord that pertains this earth–the first man. That first man sent his own son to redeem the world.
Heber C. Kimball 17 March 1861 (JD 9:40)
This brings to my mind the vision that Joseph Smith had, when he saw Adam open the gate of the Celestial City and admit the people one by one. He then saw Father Adam conduct them to the throne one by one, when they were crowned Kings and Priests of God. I merely bring this up to impress upon your mind the principles of order, but it will nevertheless apply to every member of the Church.
Brigham Young 6 October 1870 (JD 13:261)
Suppose a man should come here and tell you the very nature of our Father Adam, tell precisely how he was organized, his height, his proportions, the extent of his knowledge, tell you the agreement that was entered into, the amount of knowledge that he had to forget to reduce himself to the capacity of a corruptible being!
Brigham Young 24 Aug 1872 (JD 15:135)
We will operate here, in all the ordinances of the house of God which pertain to this side the vail, and those who pass beyond and secure to themselves a resurrection pertaining to the lives will go on and receive more and more, more and more, and will receive one after another until they are crowned Gods, even the sons of God. This idea is very consoling. We are now baptizing for the dead, and we are sealing for the dead, and if we had a temple prepared we should be giving endowments for the dead for our fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, relatives, friends and old associates, the history of whom we are now getting from our friends in the east. The Lord is stirring up the hearts of many there, and there is a perfect mania with some to trace their genealogies and to get up printed records of their ancestors. They do not know what they are doing it for, but the Lord is prompting them; and it will continue and run on from father to father, father to father, until they get the genealogy of their forefathers as far as they possibly can.
I am going to stop my talking by saying that, in the millennium, when the kingdom of God is established on the earth in power, glory and perfection, and the reign of wickedness that has so long prevailed is subdued, the Saints of God will have the privilege of building their temples, and of entering into them, becoming, as it were, pillars in the temples of God, and they will officiate for their dead. Then we will see our friends come up, and perhaps come that we have been acquainted with here. If we ask who will stand at the head of the resurrection in this last dispensation, the answer is Joseph Smith, Junior, the Prophet of God. He is the man who will be resurrected and receive the keys of the resurrection, and he will seal this authority upon others, and they will hunt up their friends and resurrect them when they shall have been officiated for, and bring them up. And we will have revelations to know our forefathers clear back to Father Adam and Mother Eve, and we will enter into the temples of God and officiate for them. Then man will be sealed to man until the chain is made perfect back to Adam, so that there will be a perfect chain of priesthood from Adam to the winding-up scene.
This will be the work of the Latter-day Saints in the millennium. How much time do you suppose we have to attend to and foster Babylon? I leave this question for you to answer at your pleasure. I have no time at all for that, I say, and stop my sayings.
Brigham Young:, as quoted by John Nutall, Feb 7, 1887
Adam was an immortal being when he came to this earth. He had lived on an earth similar to ours. He had received the priesthood and the keys thereof, and had been faithful in all things, and had gained his resurrection, and his exaltation and was crowned with glory, immortality and eternal lives, and was numbered with the Gods, for such he became through his faithfulness. (Brigham Young quoted in the Journal of L. John Nuttall, Feb 7, 1887)
Brigham Young Feb 19, 1854
Who did beget him? His Father, and his father is our God, and the father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Who is he? He is Father Adam; Michael: The Ancient of Days. (Manuscript Addresses of Brigham Young Feb 19, 1854)
Brigham Young, Oct 8, 1861
Some years ago I advanced a doctrine with regard to Adam being our Father and God. That will be a curse to many of the elders of Israel because of their folly with regard to it. They yet grovel in darkness and will. It is one of the most glorious revealments of the economy of heaven. Yet the world holds it in derision. (Manuscript Addresses of Brigham Young, Oct 8, 1861)
Brigham Young, April 25, 1855
There is but one living and true God, the Father of our spirits. Well now, who is the Father of our spirits? . . . I did take the liberty to tell this once, and I told it in a way that did not get to their understanding, and suppose I take the same course this evening, and you do not understand, but you have the spirit of the Almighty with you to enable you to appreciate it . . . It is a subject I am aware that does not appear so close to our understandings at present as we could wish it or as it will be some day, and it is one that should not trouble us at all, all such things will become more clear to your minds bye and bye.
I tell you this as my belief about that personage who is called the Ancient of Days, the Prince and so on, but I do not tell it because that I wish it established in the minds of other; though to me this is as clear as the sun, it is as plain as my alphabet. I understand it as I do the path to go home. I did not understand so until my mind became enlightened with the spirit and by the revelations of God; neither will you understand until our Father in Heaven reveals all things unto you. To my minds and to my feelings those matters are all plain and easy to understand.
(Manuscript Addresses of Brigham Young, April 25, 1855)
Brigham Young, in JHC, 14 May 1876:
Is there in heaven of heavens a leader? Yes, and we cannot do without one and that being the case, whoever he is may be called God. Joseph said that Adam was our Father and God (Brigham Young, Journal History of the Church, 14 May 1876)
Journal of Hosea Stout
Friday 9th April 1852 . . . Another meeting this evening. President B. Young taught that Adam was the father of Jesus and the only God to us. That he came to this world in a resurrected boy &c more hereafter. (Hosea Stout, Private Journal)
Journal of Samuel Roger
April 16, 1852 . . . We had the best Conference that I ever attended during the time of the Conference President Brigham Young said that our spirits were begotten before Adam came to the Earth, and that Adam helped to make the Earth, that he had a Celestial body when he came to the Earth, and that he brought he wife or one of his wives with him, and that Eave was also a Celestial being, that they eat of the fruit of the ground until they begat children from the Earth, he said that Adam was only God we would have, and that Christ was not begotten of the Holy Ghost, but of the Father Adam. (Samuel Roger, Private Journal MSS)
Excerpts from Apostle Orson F. Whitney’s epic work of poetry: Elias: An Epic of the Ages:
“Father!”-the voice like music fell,
Clear as the murmuring flow
Of mountain streamlet trickling down
From heights of virgin snow.
“Father,” it said, “since one must die,
Thy children to redeem,
Whilst earth, as yet unformed and void,
With pulsing life shall teem;
“And thou, great Michael foremost fall,
That mortal man may be,
And chosen Saviour yet must send,
Lo, here am I-send me!
I ask, I seek no recompense,
Save that which then were mine;
Mine be the willing sacrifice,
The endless glory, Thine!
(Canto III)
Ancient of Days here sits, as at the first,
When time and earth and Adam‘s race were young;
When, bowed with age, a great soul’s sunset burst
In blessings on his seed, while told that tongue
Far more than eye hath seen or lip hath sung.
Michael, the prince, the monarch of our race,
Sire of the soul, whence dust and spirit sprung,-
Here sits he, throned in fire; before his face
Ten thousand times ten thousand throng the judgment place.
(Canto VI)
Visioned the council of the Ancient One,
Where Stars make ready for the rising Sun,
Where Adam yields the mortal world he won
Unto the Sabbath Lord, till sabbath done,
And Sire receives the kingdom from the Son.
(Canto VII)
‘Mid everlasting burnings unconsumed;
Celestial seer-stone, making manifest
All things below to souls upon her breast,
By whom the white stone-new name, keyword blest,-
Revealing all above them, is possessed;
Chosen, omniscient, children of the Sun,
Offspring of Adam, Michael, Ancient One,
Who comes anon his fiery throne to rear,
His subjects summoning from far and near.
Ten thousand times ten thousand bow the knee,
And monarch hail him through eternity.
(Canto VII)
Where blest in heaven, though curst in earth and hell,
The law that framed the house of Israel,
Light’s lineal sheath and faith’s fraternity,
The called and chosen of eternity;
Where lives, ne’er ending lives, perpetuate
The joys, a myriad-fold, of mortal state,
And bind with links welded in lesser years
The love-united systems of the spheres.
The body as the sheath without the sword;
No man without the woman in the Lord;
Each pair the Eve and Adam of some world,
Perchance unborn, unorbited, unwhirled.
(Canto VII)
Excerpt from a Personal Elder’s Journal:
Brother Horne and I chatted again tonight about the Gospel and the Adam-God Doctrine, as we have done many times before. Brother Horne, who grew up in Salt Lake City and was the son of Richard Horne and grandson of Joseph Horne, said – in reference to the Adam-God Doctrine – that when he first went through the (Salt Lake) Temple for his Endowment in 1902 before going on his mission he was surprised to hear the teachings during the Temple ceremony that ‘Adam was our God’ and that ‘He came here with Eve, one of His wives’. Also, it was taught that ‘Eve bore our spirits’. He asked his father about it but he declined to give any opinion about it. After Brother Horne returned from his mission a few years later, in 1905, he noted these teachings had been removed from the Temple ceremony. (C. Jess Groesbeck’s Elders Journal, Vol. 1:291)
Essentials of the former Endowment Lecture at the Veil, from the Journal of L. John Nuttall:
In the creation the Gods entered into an agreement about forming this earth, and putting Michael or Adam upon it. These things of which I have been speaking are what are termed the mysteries of godliness but they will enable you to understand the expression of Jesus, made while in Jerusalem, “This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”
. . . Adam was an immortal being when he came on this earth; he had lived on an earth similar to ours; he had received the Priesthood and the keys thereof, and had been faithful in all things and gained his resurrection and his exaltation, and was crowned with glory, immortality and eternal lives, and was numbered with the Gods for such he became through his faithfulness. And had begotten all the spirits that was to come to this earth.
And Eve our common mother who is the mother of all living bore those spirits in the celestial world. And when this earth was organized by Elohim, Jehovah and Michael, who is Adam our common father, Adam and Eve had the privilege to continue the work of progression. Consequently they came to this earth and commenced the great work of forming tabernacles for those spirits to dwell in. And when Adam and those that assisted him had completed this kingdom, our earth, he came to it, and slept and forgot all and became like an infant child . . .
. . . Adam and Eve when they were placed on this earth were immortal beings with flesh, bones and sinews. But upon partaking of the fruits of the earth while in the garden and cultivating the ground their bodies became changed from immortal to mortal beings with the blood coursing through their veins as the action of life. . .
Father Adam’s oldest son (Jesus the Savior), who is the heir of the family, is father Adam’s first begotten in the spirit world, who according to the flesh is the only begotten as it is written. (In his divinity he having gone back into the spirit world, and came in the spirit to Mary and she conceived.) For when Adam and Eve got through with their work in this earth, they did not lay their bodies down in the dust, but returned to the spirit world from whence they came. (Diary of L. John Nuttall, Feb. 7, 1877)
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General Statements by Brigham Young on his public discourses.
6 October 1870 (JD 13:261)
I will make a statement here that has been brought against me as a crime, perhaps, or as a fault in my life. Not here, I do not allude to anything of the kind in this place, but in the councils of the nations that Brigham Young has said “when he sends forth his discourses to the world they may call them Scripture.” I say now, when they are copied and approved by me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows the mind of God, without any special command to one man to go here, and to another to go yonder, or to do this or that, or to go and settle here or there.
7 October 1857, (JD 5:329)
Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, all the Patriarchs and Prophets, Jesus and the Apostles, and every man that has ever written the word of the Lord, have written the same doctrine upon the same subject; and you never can find that Prophets and Apostles clashed in their doctrines in ancient days: neither will they now, if all would at all times be led by the Spirit of salvation.
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Brigham Young statement on believing what God had revealed (8 June 1878, Deseret News):
I told the people that if they would not believe the revelations that God had given, He would suffer the Devil to give revelations that they “priests and people” would follow after. . . . I told the people that as true as God lived, if they would not have truth, they would have error sent unto them and they would believe it.