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Show Page 236 "Brother Orson, your late sermon came near to being published...before I had an opportunity of reading it. I am not satisfied with it as a confession; it does not present me in a true light; it makes me appear to be a tyrant, and because I am the president...every man's will and judgment must bend to mine. I want to get an understanding of your views and see if we see things aright; perhaps if I could see it as you do, it would be all that I could ask, but if not, we want to have the matter laid before the conference in a manner that will injure Brother Orson's influence as little as possible " 60 Everyone recognized the danger of disturbing Orson too much - memories of 1842 were lively in Brigham's mind - and his reputation through out America and Europe as the epistolary of Mormonism had to be jarred as little as could be. Therefore, Brigham suggested the Twelve issue a joint statement, with Orson assenting and reading it in the tabernacle. But Orson, tight-lipped, demurred - he would not again be paraded as some sort of heretic. He said he thoughtPresident Young had been perfectly satisfied with the confession and was quite astonished at this renewal of the controversy. As for publishing to the world that the doctrines he had been preaching and published were false, he could not do it, because he would prove himself a hypocrite. His writings, he insisted, were promulgated on the revelations of Joseph Smith, and, to his mind, renouncing the obvious conclusions that reason drew from the inspired works would be tantamount to denying the Spirit itself. The Twelve now burst upon Orson - the revelations would certainly not back him up, they declared. Wilford Woodruff, in particular, was painfully candid, dredging up the mortifications of 1842: "Every man in this room who has a particle of the spirit of God knows that President Young is a Prophet of God... and his doctrines are true...he has explained everything so plain this evening that a child can understand it, and yet it is no evidence to you...But Brother Orson, I have seen the day when you were in sorrow. It was when you were cast out of your quorum and out of the Church, and that too in consequence of pursuing the same course you are this evening. Then you could...see, feel, and understand...when VQU saw your glory and crown departing from you. I beg of you |