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Show Page 234 they were in accordance with the word of God... But I have since learned from my brethren that some of the doctrines I had advanced in the Seer at Washington, were incorrect... I did not feel to yield to the judgment of my brethren, but believed they were in error. Now, was this right? No, it was not. Why? Because the Priesthood is the highest and only legitimate authority in the Church in these matters...." Of Great First Cause,he said nothing, and avoided any detailed statement of "false doctrines" he had promulgated in The Seer; moreover, he dwelt at much greater length on the binding authority of President Young than on his own transgressions, so that his confession became a discourse on priesthood order: "God placed Joseph Smith at the head of this Church; God has likewise placed Brigham Young at the head of this Church...We are commanded to...receive their words as from the mouth of God...I am going to do it. I am going to repent...When I say I am going to repent...I mean that I am going from this time henceforth...to try and show... that I shall be able to carry out those views; but these are my present determinations...1 feel exceedingly weak in regard to these matters." 56 He felt weak indeed, for it was not pride nor prestige he was being asked to give up, but the system of universal order which his soul yearned for and which he veritably clung to for rational sustenance. "We get into darkness," he confessed - in the midst of darkness, his premises lay blasted, but he was not ready to exhibit the ruins in public. Brigham Young was disturbed by the tone of this discourse. It seemed subtle, hang-dog, a little too deferential, and he rose on Orson's heels to command a reading of the offending texts -"The Seer,pages 24 and 25; page 117, paragraphs 95, 96, and 97; Great First Cause, points 16 and 17... all of it not true...." After Pratt's heresies had been recited verbatim over the rostrum of the old tabernacle, and the fires had cooled, Brigham apparently felt a twinge of sympathy for Orson's humiliations. He called him in some days later for a private talk. The President approbated Orson's proposed |