Br. Orson Pratt stated yesterday there is no difference between me and the Twelve only on account of my age... Must man be eternally grumbling because my stick is the longest? ... If my lot is to preside over the Church and I am the head of the Quorum-I am the mouth piece and you are the belly-Now tell the [occasion] where I failed-I chastised Brother Parley Pratt-I asked the Quorum if I had a right to chastise and I could not get a man to squeak- ... -I said in this room the other day that I would pledge that hand (striking the table) that Parley Pratt had committed adultery-It was shown to me in the valley-They committed an insult on the Holy Priesthood-and I say again, I will chastise you when I please, and how I please, and say what I please-Put some one else in my room-and I will do as Orson Pratt has done, teach my children, and suck my thumbs-and let you do all your load yourself-Brother Orson never felt the burden of the President...- Now to the subject: [Parley] Pratt came to this place and insulted me, and my Quorum, and the Priesthood-and insulted the Almighty-... I told the Saints and by the President/Priesthood. The very roads on the prairie show how they were led-Did Parley Pratt lead that body?-No-the Devil led it-I shall never have any rest until I get in that Valley and Parley Pratt and John Taylor bow down and confess that they are not Brigham Young. They are devoid of the authority-When they returned from England, they got the big head and said I am the Twelve-Did I ever say so? No, never-Why don't some of you get up and tell me the nature of my office. Brother Orson is as ignorant of it as he was ten years ago. I wonder if I am not hurt? Yes I am. I have scolded Brother Benson, he had a good team and was anxious to get home, but all in good nature. was it a private concern with PP and JT? No, it concerns the entire gathering - Brother Amasa was careless about hunting camping places, he manifested a careless spirit. If I had been able I would do it all the time - I had that care that no other man bore - that is the only time I ever spoke of him. What is Brother John Taylor's course?-I know it [and] I tell you a few points-He tried to gull every Sovereign and Shilling in England-and let the rest of the Twelve come home naked-Just as quick as he was in the Quorum-he said you are my niggers and you shall black my boots and he ride you all the time (voice: several, that's a fact). He will throw burdens on this Church and I will tell of it when I please-I feel Independent, and if you don't like it, just try titles-When I make decisions, the Spirit tells me to do so, and if you don't like it-well, just wrestle for it and see who is right-Yet I feel my nothingness as much as any of you, and if the Lord don't lead us we shall go wrong-W e should all go to the Devil-What does Orson Pratt do? Why, sit in his house all the time-... -But I have a carriage and can ride over you-but I will be untrammeled too-The question is I want the brethren to decide-But I should have told Parley, Brother Pratt, you have done wrong and you have insulted me [and God] as well as Brother Brigham-... Joseph's instructions were if one of the Twelve were to go and do wrong-just go and get him home and smother it up-But I talk to them because I want them to live-It is not because I want Brother Parley Pratt and John Taylor to die-but to live-and the only way to save those men is to talk as I do-... If a lot falls on a man to be King-is he not King? I just will be perfectly untrammeled... I believe when the President, if he was absolutely wrong, God would disown him and the Church would disown him too-Has eleven men the right to say- ... - I am the President of the Twelve-they are the head of the people. I am mouth-I will say as I please and do as I please and-if I am right, all lift up the right hand. (Up-Kimball, Richards, Smith, Woodruff, Benson, Lyman, Phelps, and Bullock.) Those who say Orson is right, lift up the right hand-Orson held a hand up. That is nine to one- ... I feel towards the twelve same as I do to my pet young ones, that I could put them in my pockets same as my wives and children. I mean to act according to the Holy Ghost. I want to put you in my pockets so that when I want to talk with you, I put my hand in my pocket, take you out and talk with you'- I have loved the twelve more than they have loved each other'- I have but one unruly member of my body, my tongue'- Any man who wants to stand where I am he must be a lion'-severe chastisement, and it is, but receive it kindly and it will do you good'- -- Winter Quarters, Nebraska
[Source: Leonard J. Arrington Papers, Special Collections, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University, Logan.. (A reference reading LJA 12-55-5, 10, means LJA Series 12, Box 55, Folder 5, page 10.) 9-12-3, 85-96, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
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